Truth and Denial
by Spot an Appaloosa
Summary: A tragedy strikes, leaving our Wasabi Warriors in shock. But none of them could've ever imagined the terrible consequences that it would bring them, as our friends already had other problems to deal with, such as Eddie's annoying cousin or Jerry's devastating sister or Kim's relationships, not to mention all the weird looks that Jack gets from everyone. And on top of that…
1. Celebration

**A/N: Hi everyone.**

**This is my first fanfic ever published… It took a while before I finally got the courage to post it. The beginning of the story is kind of slow, but I promise that there'll be a lot more drama, mystery, romance and excitement in the chapters to come.**

**A little warning though, this story is rated T for a reason…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin it.**

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Chapter1.

**Celebration **

I dodged at the last second, making my opponent lose his balance as his too forceful kick hit the mid air. I saw my chance and threw a low kick, swiping him of his feet. He hit the mat hard. The crowd went wild as the judge declared me as the winner.

I grew a huge smile, exhausted but satisfied, as my friends threw themselves at me, almost tackling me to the floor.

"You did it, Jack!" Rudy's voice came out in a high shriek.

"Of course he did. He's Jack!" Eddie said. His confidence in me was pretty big." No one stands a chance against him."

"Yeah, that's right." I said cockily, even though I had had quite a hard time taking down this last guy. I actually thought at more than one point that I would lose the match, but of course I would never admit something like that to the rest of the guys.

"You were awesome." A tall and skinny boy, better known as Milton said.

"Yeah, I know, but thanks anyway." Jerry said with confidence.

"I wasn't talking about you, you moron."

Jerry just shrugged casually, ignoring Milton's last words. To be honest with you I don't think Jerry paid enough attention to what was going on at the moment…or at any moment actually. Anyhow…The feelings of pride and joy were rushing through me as I received all the attention. As usual after I win a match (yeah, that's right. It has happened quite a few times before…) I felt as if I was at the top of the world. An astonishing feeling, really. I didn't think that I could get any happier until a certain blond flung herself at me.

"You were great, Jack." She said as she squeezed me into a hug. I hugged her back, a warm feeling spread through my body. Now, don't get me wrong. Kim and I are just friends, nothing more… Okay maybe a bit more... We're best friends, but that's as far as it goes.  
She let go of me, looking me in the eyes. For a brief moment it felt as if the outside world faded away in the distance and all that was left was Kim's bright face smiling up at me. The moment was abruptly interrupted though, as a small boy stepped in between us.

"May I have your autograph, please?" he asked holding out a Bobby Wasabi flyer and a pen.

"No problemo, little man." Jerry stepped in pushing me aside as he snatched the flyer and the pen from the surprised boy.

"He wasn't talking to you." Kim said annoyed. Jerry was already signing it though.

"To one of my many fans, let my awesomeness guide you so that you one day may have a chance with the ladies. Yours truly Jerry. " Jerry said the words out laud as he wrote. I raised an eyebrow at him. He proudly handed the flyer back to the confused boy, before turning around heading towards a bunch of giggling girls on the other side of the room. I turned towards the boy who reached out the piece of paper to me again.

"What's your name, kid?" I asked as I took the flyer.

"Bill."

"So Bill, are you going to be a black belt?"

"Yes, I am." He answered with a bit more confidence as I wrote 'To Bill, always follow your dreams, Jack.' I handed the flyer back to him.

"There you go, bud."

"Thanks" he said as he ran of with it.

"Wow Jack, you're starting to get famous." Kim teased. "Well I deserve to be, I am pretty good." I smiled cockily. She just rolled her eyes at me.

"Excuse us," a deep voice came from behind me. I turned around, facing a tall, ginger-haired man and a just as ginger-haired girl standing next to him. She was kind of pretty as she smiled shyly when my eyes met hers.

"My daughter and I are most impressed." The man said. "You've got some talent, boy."

"Thank you."

"We were just wondering if you could take a picture with us." He smiled. "Or with my daughter actually, since I'll be the one holding the camera." The girl's face turned red.

"Sure, no problem."

The man gave his daughter a slight push as a silent suggestion for her to come up to me. She nervously kept her gaze to the floor as she moved to stand beside me. I smiled at her, in an attempt to get her to relax. It didn't work though. I put my arm around her shoulders as I smiled towards the camera. The girl tensed at my touch, but I ignored it. The flash went of blinding us for a split second.

"One more. You blinked Tess." The man said.

In the corner of my eye I could see her face get even redder. If that even was possible… The bright light hit us once again.

"That will do" the man mumbled, obviously satisfied with the result of the second picture.

They thanked me before leaving. I turned around to meet the other guys' faces. They smiled at me, their eyebrows raised.

"I see you've got some admirer and a pretty one too." Rudy said. I blushed a bit in embarrassment. The guys giggled except Kim who hade a slightly annoyed look on her face. Thankfully the awkward moment was cut of as Jerry came running. Just as he was about to reach us, a shoe hit him in the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.

We quickly helped him up as a high voice was heard through the crowd. "You IDIOT!" the girl, who obviously threw the shoe (cause the one she wore matched the one that was laying on the floor next to us) screamed at him.

"Our dojo is finally getting some reputation; now let's go before that reputation turns into a bad one." Rudy said. "You guys wanna go grab a pizza, to celebrate."

"Yes, definitely, I'm starving." Eddie said. And with that we all left the dojo.

The rest of the evening went on quite harmoniously. I kept teasing Kim about me starting to get famous. Not that I really cared about the whole famous-thing, it was just fun to bug her until she hit me -hard- on my arm. Jerry kept talking about how bad the girl back at the dojo, had treated him and for no reason at all according to him. Eddie kept complaining at how small the meals were and that his cousin was coming to visit next week and of course Rudy went on planning our future as a successful dojo. Milton just handed in some good advice every now and then. With other words it was just like any other ordinary evening out with the gang…

* * *

The weekend had passed quickly with all the excitement of the tournament and on Monday morning I was pretty tired as I walked toward my locker. Kim was standing next to it waiting for me.

"Hey", she said as I approached her. "How did you do on your English essay?" I stopped dead in my tracks.

"The essay…? Right, the one about how we would live our lives in 10 years from now." I said holding up a finger for emphasis.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Kim stated the obvious.

"Kind of…" my hand fell down my side. She looked at me as if I was stupid. "It's just that I was too occupied with the tournament this weekend."

"Well, Mrs Palmer won't be too pleased." She said, but when she saw the worried look on my face she quickly added. "Lucky for you we don't have English until after lunch. So if you want I'll help you write something down at the recess, so you at least won't have to come empty-handed."

"Really? Thanks." I lit up and she gave me a smile. That was Kim; she lives to annoy me but in the end she's always there to back me up.

I opened my locker to get my stuff when a voice rang through the corridors. "Attention all students. Due to recent events, all students and teachers are to assemble in the lecture hall immediately."

"Wonder what's going on." Kim looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Their probably just heard about my outstanding performance and want to make an announcement and congratulate me to…" I was cut of by Kim punching me playfully in the ribs.

"Ouch! What was that for?" I rubbed my ribs, it hurt quit a bit.

"For being an ego-tripped jerk." Before I could say anything in my defence she was gone, heading towards the great hall. I followed trying to catch up with her.

Three familiar boys stood outside the entrance discussing.

"Relax. He's only going to stay for two weeks." Milton said trying to be reasonable, as usual.

"You don't know him. Two weeks are more than enough for him to ruin my life."

"What's going on?" I asked curiously.

"Eddie's cousin Austin is coming on Saturday." Milton explained.

"Is that so bad?"

"Oh, it's bad I'll tell you." Eddie shuddered at the thought." He is always bragging about himself and he makes me look stupid."

"Eddie, calm down." I said." If he's mean to you in any way, we're always there for you. You know that."

"Yeah, I know that." Eddie said somewhat calmer. "I guess I'll just be hanging down at the mall a lot for the next two weeks, so that I don't have to see the jerk that much."

"Come on, hurry up." Mrs Palmer came herding up the scattered students that still lingered in the hallway.

The great hall was already full of people when we entered and it took us a while to find us any seats. Oddly enough with such a big group of people, there wasn't much noise to be heard. The air felt heavy and many seemed down, others looked anxiously around trying to figure out what was going on. I didn't have a too good feeling about this, but it wasn't until we passed four girls in the midsection that were crying that I started to get really worried. They all shot me curious glances when we walked by and I swear that they were starting to talk about me as our distance became longer. This of course, didn't make me feel any better.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Kim as we took a seat next to each other.

"I have no idea." She whispered back. "But I think we're about to find out." She gestured towards Principal Burke who was heading over to the podium with a very serious look on his face.

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**So, what did you think? I have the next chapter ready for posting, but I will need at least a couple of reviews so that I'll know that someone is reading this. Otherwise I will not bother to continue. **

**So if you have read it (and want me to continue...) please review...  
/MJ**


	2. A tragic accident

**A/N: Hi again. I can't believe that I got 10 reveiws on my first chapter. And all of them were positive. I am so happy right now:)**

**Thank you so much to: PleaseDon'tEatMyStories, PersonNatalie, reb14, IHopeYouDance101, Hailey, Guest 1, Maddy, linku1260, guest 2 and Roffogoble1225. **

**You all are a bit extra special since you're the ones reviewing the very first chapter of my very first story.**

**I hope that you will find this chapter entertaining, even if I'm not too fond of it...**

**And the DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.**

**Ok I think I said all that was on my mind, so I'm gonna let Jack take over from here since he did such a great job on the previous chapter...**

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Chapter 2

**A tragic accident**

Everyone's attention was fixed on the Principal that now stood by the podium. We braced ourselves to whatever he had to say. He cleared his throat.

"It is with great sorrow that I'll inform you that our school has suffered a great loss." He made a short pause, collecting himself before continuing." One of our students is no longer with us. Theresa Jane Greene was tragically killed in a car accident yesterday."

The words felt like a bucket of ice cold water just been thrown at you and they were hard to comprehend at first. Everyone was in a state of chock and the atmosphere got even heavier than before, which made it hard to breathe. I didn't know the girl (thankfully…). She was apparently one year younger than we and I hadn't been here long enough to recognize everyone yet, but still her death affected me in a way that's hard to describe. Death is something so far away, almost unreachable in our age, and yet here it was shoved right up our faces.

An image of a car wreck with a beautiful blond girl all covered in blood and broken glass in the passenger seat flashed through my mind. The thought made me feel sick. I tried to concentrate on the things Mr Burke was saying in an attempt to clear my head but my imagination had gone wild. The picture of the dying Kim wouldn't leave me alone.

I instinctively search for Kim's hand that was lying on the armrest between us. She jerked her hand away in surprise at first, but soon replaced it, taking my hand in hers. I squeezed it gently, making sure she really was there. I glanced at her sitting next to me. The sight of the real living and breathing Kim slowly brought me back to reality again. She met my gaze with a worried look on her face. Trying to reassure her that everything was fine, I gave her a faint smile. She turned her attention back to Mr Burke and his words finally started to reach me again.

"Our school therapist as well as Pastor Farrell will be here all week long. Don't hesitate to talk to them or any other adult at our school, if you feel that the recent event is affecting you in any uncomforting way. I now speak directly to Theresa's classmates. Pastor Farrell will visit you, answering questions and discussing thoughts about life and death, right after this ceremony. All the ordinary classes until ten o'clock have been cancelled."

Once again I was relieved that this hadn't happened to someone I knew. I really felt sorry for her friends. I couldn't imagine a world without any of my friends Kim, Milton, Eddie, Jerry or Rudy.

Mr Burke had ended the speech by lighting a candle in the memory of Theresa.

People started to get up from their seats and slowly heading to the exit. As the time came for us to rise I noticed Kim and I still holding hands. She noticed it too as she quickly let go, her cheeks turning a bit red. Was she blushing? Nha… I'd probably just imagined it. I decided not to take a second look at her to find out if she truly was though, cause that would mean exposing my own face, which I was pretty sure was red as a tomato by the way it was burning. So I kept my gaze at the floor as we walked through the exit, which wasn't such a great idea... My lack of attention caused me to bump into someone just as we reached the hallway.

"Hey! Watch were you going punk." An all too familiar voice said.

"Oh, I'm sorry" I apologized almost on reflex, but when he turned around and I realized who it was, I quickly added.

"On a second thought… I am truly not that sorry, Frank."

I could see his rage grow as he struggled to keep himself from attacking me. I tried my best to suppress a smile. It's always so fun to tease Frank for several of reasons. First, he's kind of stupid and it doesn't take much for him to make a fool out of himself. Second, he has a tendency to overreact. And third, he's part of the Black Dragon, the rivalling dojo, which basically means that we're mortal enemies… Plus I don't like him.

"Now if you'll excuse me, you're kind of in our way." I said gesturing for him to step aside. He didn't of course. Instead three of his friends from the Black Dragon lined up beside him in an attempt to block our way.

"Maybe you didn't hear him, Frank? Step aside you moron." It was Kim who's spoken.

The sound of her voice made Frank's expression soften a bit. I seriously think that he has a crush on her, which is both hilarious and disturbing. Poor Kim…

"I heard him perfectly fine." He said cockily. "It just so happens that I have excellent hearing but I choose not to do as he says for this is our part of the hallway and we are the ones making the rules here." He held out a finger as to making a point. I just rolled my eyes at him.

Kim was just about to say something when Mrs Palmer came by. Frank and his gang quickly scattered looking innocent. We saw our chance and walked past them. Not that we were trying to flee from them, it was just not a good time -considering the circumstances- to start a fight.

As Kim and I reached our lockers I noticed a bunch of girls sitting on a bench right next to the stairs that led to the second floor. They were in the middle of a conversation but went silent when they saw us. I could feel their gaze following us as we got our stuff. It was actually creeping me out a little. I wondered if Kim had noticed them too. But the fact that she hadn't dropped any comment to them yet made me realize that she hadn't…

"I can't believe it…It feels so unreal…" Kim said to herself obviously thinking about what happened to Theresa.

"I know. You never think that things like this is going to happen to someone you know." I said. "Not that we really knew her though…but still…"

She just shook her head deep in thoughts.

"Well at least something good is coming out of all of this."

I looked at her confused after her statement.

"What?" I asked.

"Since some of our lessons have been cancelled we have a lot more time working on your homework." She said, a bright smile spread across her face.

I threw my head back, letting out a deep sigh of frustration. I totally forgot about the essay again.

"Did you say homework?" Milton asked as he came up to us. "Is there any chance that we've gotten a new assignment?"

"Thankfully no" Kim answered. "Jack just forgot the one for today. You know the essay about our life in ten years from now, and I promised to help him with it."

"Oh, I see… Do you want any extra help with it?" Milton asked with enthusiasm. "I'll be happy to do it. All this extra spare time is going to bore me to death otherwise."

Kim and I looked at him as if he was some kind of idiot. Of course he's not. In fact Milton is a genius, smarter than anyone I know but sometimes he can be really weird.

"You are more than welcome to help." I said knowing that if he did it I would most likely get at least a B+.

"Great!" He exclaimed clapping his hands together. "First I'm gonna have to ask you some questions about your future plans."

"Okay, what do you wanna know?"

"What do you wish to be doing in ten years?"

"I don't know really…I'll continuing with the karate of course and the skateboarding… Maybe have a well paid job… " I answered truthfully.

"Mmm…So by looking at the average student and the percents that's most likely…" He trailed of in thoughts. Kim and I exchanged glances. Here we go… Milton's brain is working at full speed…

"You'll most likely end up in a small apartment with some friends. Maybe be dating someone but you probably wont have any real girlfriend, since you don't have your own place. You have a license but you can't afford a car, not as long as you working on Burger Kings anyway, therefore you'll be bicycling or skating anywhere you wanna go, which by the way suits your style since you wanna stay fit." He smiled pretty pleased with himself. "And to bring in some extra cash you'll walk other people's dogs on your spare time."

"Yeah, that's probably _not_ the way it's gonna be." I said a bit offended. Didn't he think I had what it takes to be successful?

"Right, I forgot you were popular. That actually changes the outcome a bit…"

"Milton!" I exclaimed." No offence but I really think that I know better how my future is gonna turn out to be than anyone else."

"Well, suit yourself but I base my theories on science." Milton defended as we left our lockers to find somewhere to sit to work on my essay.

I once again had a feeling of being watched, I threw a quick glance at the girls who still sat on the bench. They were talking to each other again, unfortunate too low for us to hear what they were saying, but something told me that they were talking about us while they occasionally shot us glances as we walked down the hallway.

* * *

The day had been pretty awkward. The morning's event had sort of ruined the whole of it and we were not too cheerful as we waited in the dojo for our practise to begin.

"NO, I'm telling you mom, I'll never let him share my room." Eddie practically shouted in the phone and it looked like he was about to hang up but changed his mind and went silent, obliviously listening to her. "That's not fair." Eddie said after a while sounding a bit more desperate. He let out a big sigh "Okay. Bye mum."

"What did she say?" Milton asked curiously.

"She said that Austin is going to sleep in my room, which means that I'm gonna have to spend even more time with him."

"C'mon it can't be that bad." I tried to cheer him up. "You'll be in school all day and then after school you'll be here at the dojo so it's not gonna be that much time left to hang out with him anyways."

"I guess you're right. Maybe I am overreacting a little."

"You think…?" Kim said, raising her eyebrows. "You haven't been talking about anything else for the whole day."

The door to the dojo suddenly flung open as a latino boy ran through it.

"Sorry I'm late guys." Jerry said catching his breath. "But my sister was…"

"Let me guess" Kim interrupted him. "Your sister took _her_ bike so _you_ couldn't use it to get here in time."

"Yes but that was not what I was going to say."

It wasn't? We all looked at him, surprised that he was going for some other excuse than the usual.

"My sister Nelly goes in the same class as Teresa did and they were apparently close friends." He said.

I felt my stomach turn as I was reminded of the accident.

"Hang on…" Milton said. "Teresa was a friend of your sister and you didn't know her?"

"It's kind of hard to keep track of all of your siblings all friends." Jerry defended.

"True." Milton stated.

Well it was true, in Jerry's case anyway. He had quite a family…

"Anyway, Nelly's absolutely crushed. She cried for like an hour and talked about Theresa and the accident all afternoon, and guess who had to listen to it all." Jerry gestured towards himself. "I told her to go somewhere to get her mind of of things and to stop bugging me."

"How did that work out for you?" Eddie asked.

"Well she left me alone but she took the bike with her, so I had to run to get here."

"Poor Nelly." Kim said with sympathise in her voice.

"Good evening guys." We eyed the short man that now had entered the dojo. "I have a big surprise for you all. Or actually it's two surprises." Rudy said with a big smile across his face. "Now don't get too excited." He made a pause to hold the tension looking as if he was going to burst of excitement himself. "We are going to have an open house event on Friday."

We looked at him a bit taken aback at first. An awkward silence filled the room for a moment.

"Please don't talk all at once." Rudy said breaking the silence. "We're gonna do a small performance to show them what we can do and hopefully we'll get some new members to join our dojo. What do you think guys?"

"That sounds great." I said.

"Yeah, I bet there's gonna be lots of cute girls." Jerry said with a smirk.

"What are we waiting for then? We need to get to work if we're gonna impress them." Eddie said as he sprung to his feet.

"Wait, what's the second surprise?" Milton asked curiously.

"Next Saturday we're going to have a tournament against the Black Dragons. So the training is going to be more intense for these next two weeks. We need to be good if we're gonna beat them." Rudy said. "So what do you say guys?" He held out his hand. "Wasabi." We all stepped forward putting our hands on top of his.

"Wasabi!" we chanted in unison.

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**Well' this was the second chapter, nothing to get too excited about, but all this kind of needs to be there for the story to work in the end so...**

**The more reviews the faster I'll update (mainly because I get motivated to write and upload quicker by your reviews.)**

**See ya and thanks for reading /MJ**


	3. An unexpected expected visitor

**AN/ Sorry for the late update. **

**Once again I like to thank everyone that reviewed on my last chapter: PersonNatalie, fluffyfluffyboomboom, zebragyrlie, crystalsoda1, AbberzzzCain, Maddy, Livy.G, Guest and Captainawsome42. **

**The story is still going a bit slow here but it will soon change... Anyway I hope you like it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin' it.**

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Chapter 3

**An unexpected expected visitor**

Wednesday, the middle of the week, I like it because the weekend finally starts to get closer again…

We all sat in the cafeteria just like any other day. The tragic event was put behind us and everything was back to normal. At least the school was anyway, the karate training had become a lot more intense as we really pushed ourselves to the limit for the open house thing on Friday and also for the tournament against the Black Dragons.

We would never let them win that easily.

"It's gonna be so much fun kicking their butts." Kim said referring to the Black Dragons. She never had the chance to compete against them before and she was really excited about it.

"I bet Frank's gonna get furious if we win."

We giggled.

"Yeah, he's gonna hate us forever." I said. "Not that he doesn't already."

"Speaking of whom…" Kim trailed of nodding towards a dirty blond guy that looked a bit older than everybody else, coming in our direction. He was flanked by two Black Dragon members.

"I've heard that we're up against you losers next Saturday." Frank said with a stupid grin.

"Yes, that's right, and we're gonna crush you." Milton said with the kind of overconfident tone that only he could pull off.

"Yeah, we're totally gonna take you down." Jerry added as he high-fived Milton.

"Like that's gonna happen. You're all just a bunch of …" Frank searched for the right word.

"Losers" One of his friends filled in.

"Oh really…Well you're just a bunch of jerks with an IQ lower than the average goldfish." Milton countered.

We all burst out laughing.

"You won't be laughing next Saturday. In fact you're all gonna wish you'd never been born." Frank said in an almost threatening tone. I rose from my chair and went to stand in front of him looking him strait in the eye.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I said confidently. "You know I've never lost a fight against you."

I seemed to have pushed his buttons with my words, because he sent a fist flying through the air. I caught it as I quickly stepped aside. With a forceful movement I twisted it, flipping him over. He landed on his back looking a bit confused. When will he ever learn? I leant over him.

"As I said, you've never beaten me and you never will." I smirked.

His confusion quickly turned into anger and he started to get up. I mentally prepared to defend myself if necessary. I didn't have to though, because Principal Burke just entered the cafeteria. I quickly returned to my seat and acted as if noting happened.

Frank stood up glaring at us like crazy. He wouldn't do anything as long as Principal Burke was around. We all knew that. Instead he said almost whispering.

"I'm gonna get you, Jack. Your dojo is a joke. They would be nothing without you." He turned around leaving the cafeteria, his friends following behind him. One of them turned and mouthed to me.

"You better watch your back, Jack." I rolled my eyes. Yeah right, as if any of them could take me on. I wasn't scared of them, but as much as I hate to admit it, they were right about my friends. The chances of them winning the tournament against the Black Dragons without me would be very slim. Kim would do alright but the rest of them…They would need all the help they could get.

"I can't believe I used to hang out with them" Kim said before shoving a fork full of potato into her mouth.

"We can't believe it either." Milton shuddered as he said it. She shot him a glare. The thought was kind of strange… My best friend used to be friends with one of the people I despise most in the world.

"So, Kim" I started. "Eddie, Jerry and I are going to have a movie night on Saturday. Do you wanna come?" I was silently hoping that she would. "We're gonna be at my house." I added.

"Sure, that'll be fun." A smiled curved her lips as a wave of excitement rushed through me.

"Aren't you coming Milton?" Kim asked.

"No I have a chess tournament." He answered. "This time Larry Williams is going down."

"Okay… sounds like fun…"She said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

"Too bad you're missing the movie. It's gonna be awesome." Eddie said.

"It's okay, I'm not really into action movies anyways." Milton said casually. "Wait a minute, isn't your cousin coming on Saturday?"

"Why do you think I've insisted on having a movie night?" Eddie looked at Milton, waiting for him to catch on.

"Oh…" Milton breathed as he realized Eddie tried to avoid his cousin in any way possible. In fact Eddie had practically begged us ever since he found out that Austin was coming, to keep him occupied every day for two weeks starting on Saturday. He was pretty desperate. Was Austin really so bad?

* * *

The school day had seemed longer than usual and when the bell finally rang we rushed out of the classroom, heading toward our lockers. There was no time to dwell, if we didn't want to be late for the extra practise that Rudy had put in for us.

All of a sudden Eddie stopped abruptly causing Jerry to bump into him. He stood frozen to the spot looking as if he'd seen a ghost. Tracing his gaze our eyes fell upon a black woman and a tall muscular guy just a few years older than us. They both kind of reminded of Eddie.

"SURPRISE!" Eddies mom shouted in excitement. She came running towards us stretching her arms out to embrace her son.

"What are you two doing here?" Eddie managed to gasp out from her obviously very tight hug.

"Oh we just wanted to surprise you. Austin came a few days earlier than planed. I just picked him up at the airport." She smiled.

"Great." Eddie tried to sound enthusiastic but failed.

The guy who must be Austin approached us.

"So you must be Eddies karate friends…Hey, I'm Austin" He introduced himself holding a hand out for Milton to shake.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Milton."

Jerry was the next in line to introduce himself.

"Sup man? I'm Jerry the cool one." He shook Austin's hand. As they let go Austin seemed to notice Kim and a smile appeared on his face.

"Who is this pretty lady?" He asked. Kim smiled shyly.

"I'm Kim."

He took her hand and kissed it in a gentlemen fashion. She blushed.

"Very nice to meet you, Kim." He said looking her in the eyes. I was a little taken aback by his actions, and by my own feelings as well, as I saw Kim warming up to this guy. Did she like him? And if so, why was I feeling so bad. A mixture of sadness, disappointment and jealousy filled my guts.

I cleared my throat causing them to break their eye contact.

"I'm Jack," I said offering my hand. He shook it politely.

After the awkward introduction we all quickly made our way out. I couldn't help but notice how Austin kept looking at Kim until he finally reached the car. We weaved at him and Eddie before leaving the parking lot.

Austin actually seemed kind of nice and I would probably get along with him quite well if it wasn't for Kim. I know that I'm probably overreacting a little, they just greeted each other, it's not as if they have a thing for each other or anything. But still, I can't help myself from thinking about how Kim hadn't shown any hint of rejection towards him and how he had so obviously flirted with her.  
I haven't felt like this ever before. I didn't like Kim like that but the thought of her dating someone made me a little jealous. What if she wouldn't have time for me anymore? Once again I told myself that she wasn't actually dating anyone, and she most likely wouldn't date Austin. There were really no needs to worry. But still…

* * *

Kim and I had taken a detour to the post office to pick up a package for my mum. The package had been delayed though, so we had to leave empty-handed. In other words, a complete waist of time… And in a time were there was no time to waist, this was very frustrating.

We entered the dojo, trying to catch our breaths after the run from the post office. Milton and Jerry were already there.

"Where have you two been?" Milton asked. "We were worried you wouldn't come."

"We just had some business to take care of…" I said casually.

"Well you better go and change. Rudy's gonna be here any minute." Milton said.

Kim and I quickly went to the dressing rooms to change, not wanting to be the ones to delay our lesson. When we were done we returned to the dojo. Four pair of eyes met us as we entered. Jerry, Milton and Eddie sat on the mats. It took me a few seconds to recognize the tall guy sitting on the bench as Austin. Yay…he was here…and just when I was starting to forget about him. His face lit up as he saw Kim.

"Hey Austin." Kim greeted him in an all too friendly tone. "What are you doing here?"

"He's just dropping me of. He was just about to leave." Eddie explained before Austin had a chance to answer her question. What a relief… For a moment there I thought that he was going to stay to watch our practise or worse, participate in it…

"Actually I'm not in that much of a hurry." Austin said. "I wanted to see the great karate dojo that Eddie's been bragging about ever since he got kicked out from Mrs King's Dance Academy." He tried to suppress a laugh at his own words but failed. "Is it ok if I stay and watch? I would so much want to see if Eddie's moves have improved since his dancing career."

"Dancing wasn't my thing and I never wanted to go in the first place. It was mums idea and you know that." Eddie said.

"Yeah at first but as soon as you saw Mrs King you quickly changed your mind." Austin smirked.

Milton, Jerry and Kim laughed as Eddie's cheeks turned red. I would have laughed too, but since Austin's already getting on my nerve, his jokes about Eddie only made me dislike him even more.

"What's so funny?" Rudy's voice came as he closed the door to his office behind him. He approached us, realizing that we were one too many. "Excuse me, I don't think you have introduced me to your friend." Rudy said.

"Oh I'm Austin." Austin said getting up from the bench. "I'm Eddie's cousin. I just wanted to come and see the place and meet the man who's been teaching Eddie so many great things."

"Nice to meet you. I'm sensei Rudy." Rudy shook his hand obviously flattered. "Do you do karate as well?" He asked.

"No." Austin answered casually. "I dance."

The corners of my mouth formed into a smile as I raised an eyebrow. He dances? Rudy looked surprised at him. Dancing wasn't the kind of thing that you would expect a guy like him to do.

"I'm a dancer too." Jerry said but no one paid any attention to him.

"Please show us somthing, Austin?" Kim asked.

"I don't think we have time for that." Eddie said. "We've already lost some time by chatting around."

"I think we can spare five minutes." Rudy said. "That is if you want to dance for us."

"Yeah sure, I'll do it." Austin walked up on the mats. "Give me a beat, Eddie."

Eddie reluctantly did what he said and started beatboxing. The next thing we knew, Austin was moving flawlessly in a popping/locking kind of way all over the place…

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**Ok guys that was the third chapter.**

**I promise that I will be quicker to uplode the next chapter and please review:)**

**/MJ**


	4. The Letter

**A/N: Here I am with yet another chapter. I really appreciate all of your reviews. It's so much fun to read your thoughts about the story and what you think is going to happen:) I see that some off you are a little worried about Austin... All I can say is that everything will turn out all right for Jack in the end but first it's gonna get a bit worse...(poor Jack...) Don't wanna spoil the story by telling you more;P **

**And bout the girls...let's just say that every detail in this story is important and they're all there for a reason.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin' it only my OC Austin(who I don't even like...).**

**I personally like this chapter and I hope that you will to... Now, Jack if you would be so kind to countinue the story...**

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Chapter 4

**The Letter**

We all looked at Austin in surprise. The moves that he'd just shown us were impressive.

Even if I wasn't too fond of him, I had to admit that he was very talented.

"Wow, you really know how to dance." Kim said. I shot her a glance. She'd looked a bit too fascinated by him, for my likings.

"That was amazing!" Rudy exclaimed. Great now he's a fan too…

"I've just got an idea…" Rudy continued. "What would you say about being a part of our little show here on Friday?" He looked hopefully at Austin.

Eddie had a horrified look on his face which I was pretty sure was reflected my own face. I tried my best to hide it though, but I'm not too sure that I pulled it of. Kim on the other hand, had that lovely smile that I adore, spread across her face.

"Really? That would be so much fun." Austin answered.

"Are you sure that you have time for that. I mean the show's only two days from now." Eddie desperately tried to convince Austin to rethink is answer. "Besides weren't you and mom supposed to go see grandpa on Friday?"

Austin seemed to think about that for a moment as I felt a small ray of hope spring to life inside of me. Maybe he wouldn't be able to make it.

"Of course you don't have to do the show, if you have other more important stuff to deal with." Rudy said understandingly.

"But it would definitely be cool if you could do the show." Kim filled in.

Austin brightened up at Kim's comment.

"I guess I can call grandpa and tell him I'll meet him on Saturday instead or maybe he would like to come and watch both Eddie and me." Austin said as my ray of hope suddenly died. "As for the practise, I know how to dance I just gotta come up with a routine. I'll be here on all your practises and if it's cool with you Rudy, I can train here all day while the rest of them are in school. I don't have any other things to do anyway."

"Great! We can teach you some karate moves to mix in with the dance. It's gonna be so cool." I would have laughed at Rudy's childish enthusiasm at any other day but right now I was kind of upset by the way things were turning out.

"Jack" I snapped out of my thoughts as Rudy said my name. "Come on up here and be my sparring partner." He gestured for me to come. I reluctantly went over to him. Why did he have to drag me into this?

"I want you to throw a sidekick at me." He said.

I did and he blocked it perfectly, as you would expect from a third degree black belt.

"Now, some more kicks. You can mix them up if you want."

I started kicking and he kept blocking my attacks that now came from all directions, as Austin watched carefully. It turned out to a series of blocking movements that almost looked like a dance.

After Rudy's little demonstration it was Austin's turn. He first practised the moves in the mid air as Rudy occasionally gave him some advices and guidance. Kim, Milton and Jerry looked in awe at him as he picked up the moves quickly. It all seemed to come very naturally for him. Even Eddie looked amazed as Austin nailed moves, that they had been practising weeks for, in just a few minutes.

"Okay, I think you're ready to try against a real opponent." Rudy said. Once again I had to be the one to do the kicking.

I stood in front of him in my fighting stance ready to start.

"C'mon Austin! You can do this!" Kim exclaimed. That felt weird. It was the first time that she'd cheered for my opponent, and not for me.

"Ready?" Rudy shot us both glances as we gave a quick nod. "Okay…GO!"

I kicked at him half-heartedly and he blocked. "Good!" Rudy praised him. I saw Austin's confidence grow as he continued to defend himself successfully as I kept kicking and striking at him. Of course I went very easy on him, giving him a chance to keep up with me. But as my adrenalin kicked in I had a hard time controlling myself from getting too rough on him. I did a skip kick almost on reflex. It came really fast. Austin didn't even have a chance to see it coming. My foot made contact with his chest with an incredibly force. In a split second Austin was knocked to the ground.

"Austin!" Rudy and Kim screamed in unison as both ran towards him.

"Are you ok?" Rudy sounded really worried, a lot more than he usually does when I throw or kick someone to the ground, which happens quite often.

"Yeah I'm fine." Austin said as he sat up, though you could clearly see that his body was aching.

"Way to go, Jack." Kim hissed before turning to Austin again.

"Here, let me help you." She held out her hand. He took it and rose to his feet. As he got up their eyes met in an awkward moment. Well, for me it was awkward anyway…

"Jack." Rudy's voice was a bit stern as he said my name. "You have to go easy. You can't just take it all out on everyone you up against."

That was the first time I heard him say anything like that. Usually he's always like 'show em' what you've got' or 'Take him down!'.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kick him." I defended. "It was an accident." Or at least I think it was… A part of me was just as chocked as everyone else, but another part was kind of satisfied. It felt good to get my frustration out on him, especially since he was the one causing me to feel this way in the first place. Was that making me a bad person?

"Okay, let's try again." Austin said.

"Are you sure?" Rudy asked.

"Yes. I'll be ready this time." Austin gave a faint smile to seem confident in his decision. "Maybe I should be the one doing the kicking." Kim said. "Since Jack has difficulties controlling his anger." She said the last words with despise in her voice.

I looked at her in disbelief. How could my best friend who've always stood by my side, turn into someone like this in a matter of hours.

"Kim's right, Jack. You could probably use a break." Rudy said. I didn't say anything, I just went over to the rest of the guys.

"I thought you did great." Eddie whispered to me as I sat down next to him. "He really deserves it."

* * *

I had woken up with a mixed feeling this morning. I was excited about the open house at the dojo this evening. But the way Austin and Kim had bonded over the past few days really bothered me and I wouldn't be able to fully enjoy myself tonight. Kim hadn't been herself and she seemed to be in her own unreachable world as we sat in the cafeteria.

"I can't believe that we are going to perform tonight." Milton said with a mixed expression of fear and excitement on his face.

"It's gonna be awesome." Jerry said. "My new routine is really cool. I can't wait to show it for my family."

"The whole thing would be a lot more fun though if Austin wasn't a part of it." Eddie muttered. The mention of Austin made Kim come out of her 'happy place'. "I think Austin is doing a great job. He's good and with his opening the whole thing seems more professional." Her voice got a little louder as she kept going. "What have you against him anyway?"

"Everyone seems to think that he's so perfect and no one notice how he..." Eddie trailed of. "Forget it." He sighed.

"Well, I think since it's our dojo and we're the ones that are actually taking lessons there..." I tried to sound objective. "…we should be the ones doing the show. Besides, in our dojo no one learns how to dance so I think that Austin's act kind of brings you the wrong message." I finished.

"You're just being jealous." Kim snapped.

"What?..." I exclaimed trying to find a good way to express myself without revealing that she was right. All I could come up with was "No, I am not jealous".

She looked at me in disbelief.

"I think that Jack's got a point." Milton said sincerely. I silently thanked Milton for taking me out of the awkward moment when Kim turned her 'evil glare' towards him instead. . "I bet there's going to be a lot of people coming to watch." Milton tried to change the subject as he met Kim's eyes.

"Yeah, especially cute girls." Eddie smiled at the thought.

"My sister Nelly and some of her friends are coming." Jerry nodded towards their table. The rest of us automatically took a sneak peak at them. Hey, weren't they the ones that acted so weird, giggling and whispering around me some days ago… I recognized them since one of them had this crazy black hair with red highlights in it.

"You know who those girls are?" I asked Jerry.

"Well, yeah… sort of. At least the two on the left, Carol and Amy. They use to hang out with Nelly. The cute blond one has actually been to my house once." He smiled. I was about to ask him more about them but I was interrupted by a now very familiar voice.

"Eddie!" We all looked at Austin as he approached us. "There you are. I've been looking all over the school for you." Austin said.

"Well here I am…" Eddie said annoyed. "What do you want?"

"Your mom is waiting for you outside. She said it was important."

"What?" Eddie looked at him surprised. "What does she want?"

"I don't know." Austin shrugged nonchalantly. Eddie reluctantly stood up and left his unfinished lunch to go meet his mother.

"Hey Kim." Austin smiled at her. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"You didn't?" I said. He glared at me. "This is the cafeteria at lunchtime and you were searching for Eddie which happens to be our friend. And you didn't expect us to be around and..." Kim kicked my leg under the table to make me shut up. She then turned her attention back to Austin.

"I didn't expect you either." She said.

"I'm looking forward to tonight." He said looking her deep in her eyes. "It's gonna be so great, especially with you by my side." Kim blushed at his words. Austin observed her in silence for a few seconds. "Have I told you, you look real pretty today?" He said, making me almost choke on the piece of meat that I was just about to swallow. I started to cough violently, drawing everybody's attention to me. My eyes were tearing up and my face had turned red as I tried to catch my breath.

"Are you okay, Jack?" Kim asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. " I managed to gasp out before taking a sip of water.

"Oh look at the time." Milton said. "We better get going."

We all stood up, took our trays and left the table. I was the last one to leave and as I was about to put down my tray by the dishes, I accidentally dropped it. The plate along with the glass scattered in hundreds of pieces all over the floor with a loud crashing sound. Every person in the cafeteria stopped whatever they were doing and looked at me.

Okay…This was embarrassing. Not since I took out Frank and his Black Dragon buddies on my very first day here had I gotten this much attention. I quickly tried to collect all the broken pieces while everyone burst out laughing. Kim kneeled by my side helping me. I cursed slightly as a piece of glass sank into my skin. In the corner of my eye I could see Austin laughing so hard he had to bend over.

"Okay, everybody move. There's nothing to see here." It was Marge the lunch lady. We all scattered to let her trough. She had brought a broom with her and started to clean everything up.

"Jack your bleeding." Kim sounded worried. I hadn't noticed it before but my hand was more or less covered in blood coming from the cut that the small piece of glass hade made.

"You better get to the nurse and have that checked." Marge said. "I'll take care of this mess."

* * *

I walked out from the nurses office after I thanked her for taking care of my hand that was now all wrapped up to stop the bleeding. My friends were already in their classes. Kim had wanted to stay with me but I've insisted her to leave. I mean it was just a small cut, it's not as if I was dying or something. It barely even hurt. It looked _way_ worse than it was and I wouldn't let Kim be late for her class for something as silly as this.

As I came around a corner heading towards my locker, I heard people talking so I slowed down. I'm not an eavesdropping kind of person, but the voices were familiar. I tried to concentrate on what they were saying as I inched closer. Rounding yet another corner I spotted the owners of the voices standing by the janitor's door. It was Austin talking to…Frank?... And there went the last piece of trust I had in that guy… I couldn't make out the words they were saying and I was debating with myself whether I should walk up to them or not. Considering that I was already late and didn't want to get even more delayed I decided to leave, preferably without Austin and Frank noticing me. I carefully backed of around the corner and took a detour to my locker instead. Why were they talking to each other?

I opened my locker, grabbing my stuff when I noticed a folded paper that I was sure hadn't been there before. I picked it up, unfolding it.

_Hey Jack._

_I don't know if you remember me…_

_We'd met on your last tournament. _

_You know the ginger haired girl with her dad by her side…_

_Anyway, we (me and my dad) have been following your success for the whole season. _

_Don't get me wrong…_

_We're just huge admirers of what you do._

_So my dad owns this company that would be more than happy to sponsor you._

_It's a great opportunity for you (at least that's what I think)._

_Meet me by the bench behind the gym after school._

_Don't tell any of your karate friends about this…_

_Really hope you can make it, Tess._

I looked at the letter, reading it over again. I didn't know what to think. Was this for real or just some kind of prank? If this was true I was about to get a sponsor. I was really excited about that but the note also freaked me out a little. I did actually remember her taking a picture with me, but how could they have been watching me for so long without me noticing them? But then again, when I started to think of it, I was always so focused on the matches so I'd never notice any in the audience, so that maybe wasn't so strange after all.

But why wasn't I allowed to tell my friends about this? Yet again I figured out the answer to that. Tess and her father are probably thinking that my friends would be jealous or wanting sponsorships as well. I put the letter in my pocket and headed of to class. I didn't think so much more about it for the rest of the school day; instead what really bothered me was Austin's conversation with Frank. The only logical reason of why they were talking that I could think of was that maybe Austin is 'working undercover' for the Black Dragons to infiltrate our dojo to make sure that we loose the tournament. I know it sounds silly and a bit overdramatic when you say it like that, but you get the picture… But then again he was Eddie's cousin from New York (I think…) and that he would know Frank and the Black Dragons seemed kind of farfetched.

Either way I was going to tell the others as soon as I get a chance…

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**That's it guys, hope you liked it. So the question is, can Austin be trusted?  
What do you think?**

**Please don't forget to review and I'll try to be as quick as possible with the next chapter;)**

**See ya!**

**/MJ**


	5. Showtime

**AN/ HI. here's the fifth chapter, finally... Thank you so much for your reviews, they really mean a lot to me.**

**This is the longest chapter yet...It took me a while to get this done...anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it:)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

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Chapter 5

**Showtime**

The school bell finally rang. I hadn't got a chance to tell Kim and the rest of guys about Austin yet. It would have to wait until tonight.

Right now I was to meet Tess behind the gym. I hurried there, not wanting to keep her waiting. I saw the bench and sat down. She hadn't showed up yet… I took out the letter and read it just to make sure that I had the place and time right.

A few more minutes went by with no sign of her. An old lady walking her dog and a tall man with a funny looking hat were the only ones that had showed up since I got here. The man sat down on the bench next to me as I started to look around wondering if this was a prank after all.

The man spoke all of a sudden making me tense in surprise.

"You want one?" He asked offering me one of his pastilles which he's been eating on the whole time.

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself…" He said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm waiting for someone, who doesn't seem to show up." I said a bit annoyed.

"Hmm…" he shoved one more pastille into his mouth, as he looked at me in a way that made me feel a bit uncomfortable. "I recognize you." He said. "You're that karate kid." I looked at him confused. How come all of a sudden everyone seems to know who I am? As if he could read my thoughts he said. "I've just started working down at the mall and I use to take a sneak peak through the windows of your dojo every now and then. It reminds me of when I was a kid." I gave him a questioning look. "I used to take karate lessons." He explained. "O man did I love it…"

"Why'd you quit?"

"My parents got a job in a new town so we had to move." He sat up strait. "You know I have a couple of tickets to the Martial Arts Nationals. I always use to go with my kids but this year they've decided to go to camp instead. You can have them if you want,"

"Really?"

"Yeah, they're in my car. C'mon." he said as he got up from the bench walking in the direction of his car. I was just about to follow him when a sweet voice rang trough the air.

"There you are, Jack." Kim said walking up to me. "I've been looking everywhere for you." She looked at me confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing." I said casually, turning towards the man again but he was gone. Weird… There were no signs of Tess either and I've been here for almost twenty minutes by now.

"Are you coming?" Kim asked impatiently.

"Yeah" I said. Waiting here would be useless, Tess wasn't going to come, I realized. And the man, he knew where to find me if he still wanted to give me those tickets.

So I walked of with Kim.

"Kim?" I said to catch her attention. "When I got back from the nurse I spotted Austin…"

I hesitated. How was I going to say this so that she would understand my worries?

"And…?" Kim waited impatiently for me to continue.

"He was talking to Frank." She looked sceptically at me.

"Are you sure? I mean Austin lives in New York, it's not very likely that they know each other."

"Yes, I'm sure it was them. And you can't be certain that they don't know each other either. What if they're plotting against us for the tournament?" The words just spilled out of me.

She shook her head in disbelief. "Just because you don't like him, doesn't mean…"

"I never said I didn't like him." I cut her of.

"No, but you're acting all weird around him and you kicked him right in the guts." She raised her voice.

"That was an accident. You know that." I defended. "I'm just saying that it's kind of weird, the fact that he shows up now, just in time to our preparations for the tournament against the Black Dragons and also for the tournament itself."

"You're pathetic." She said as she kept on walking. The tone of her voice, made it quite clear that she didn't believe me and I was a little hurt by her words. I didn't bother to say anything it would be useless anyway, as long as she's in this kind of mood.

When we were almost home (or at least Kim was, I had a little further to go…) she finally spoke.

"What were you really doing behind the gym?" She asked curiously. "And don't say 'nothing', I know you too well for you to try to fool me." She smiled slyly letting me know that she had figured out that it must have been something. I saw no reason why not to tell her, even if the letter had clearly said not to tell anyone. But hey, they didn't even show up…

"Do you remember that girl that took a picture with me at the tournament last weekend?" Kim seemed to think for a moment before giving me a small nod, her expression blank. "Well, she had put a letter in my locker today. I saw it just after I'd seen Aust… the nurse." I quickly changed my words not wanting to bring Austin up again. "It told me to meet her there after school."

"Oh." Kim said thinking. "Did she say why she wanted to meet you?"

"She said that her dad owned a company that was willing to sponsor me."

"Wow Jack, that's great." She smiled but I could see bitterness in her eyes. Was she jealous?

"Yeah, so it would seem…"

"What do you mean?"

"She never showed." I said.

"Oh…"

We arrived to the crossing where we would go our separate ways.

"See you tonight." Kim said.

"See ya." I said back before I took of to the left while Kim continued forward. I looked at her as she got further and further away. I could see the house form where I stood. I always like to stay and watch her just to make sure that she gets safely to her home, before I continue to my house a couple of blocks away...

* * *

The dojo was filled with people. Most of them were relatives and friends but also some other curious folks had found their way in here. Just as Rudy had hoped there were a bunch of possible new students attending.

"I didn't think that so many people would show up." Kim said calmly but you could still hear how nervous she was.

"Okay, don't freak out… just stay calm…" Milton repeated over and over again as he paced back and forth in the small hallway between the dojo and our dressing rooms.

Eddie was just staring at the wall in front of him sinking in to his own world. I didn't get why they were all so nervous. I mean the things that we were going to demonstrate were easy and we had sort of choreographed it so everyone knew exactly what to do. It's not like in a tournament when you get to spar against someone and you have to change your moves and tactics according to what your opponent does.

"I am ready to roll." Austin said confidently as he emerged from the dressing room. I almost cracked up laughing at the sight of him, forgetting how much I disliked him. He had this girly looking tight t-shirt with glitter all over it. His black sneakers had pink laces that matched the shiny pink scarf around his neck and the silly hat on his head…. Lets just say that he stood out from the rest of us that was wearing our white karate GIs with green collars. The rest of the guys looked just as amused as I was.

"Wow, you look…" Eddie hesitated.

"Cool." Kim filled in for him. There wasn't any sarcasm in her voice. Seriously, she didn't think he looked ridiculous?

The sweet look on Kim's face as she saw him made that feeling fill me again. I couldn't really put my finger on it…Was it jealousy? But I didn't like Kim like that…right? One thing I knew for sure was that I didn't like Austin and I most certainly didn't trust him. I was going to keep an eye on him, that's for sure…

"Thank you. It took me a while to decide what to wear." Austin said. "I don't want to make a fool out of myself."

The words had made both Jerry and Eddie jump with a silent laughter behind his back, trying their hardest to suppress it.

"You're ready?" Austin asked Kim who gave him a small nod. Kim was a part of the second half of his number, where the dance would have more karate movements in it. It was actually pretty cool, I'll have to admit…

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to welcome you to the Bobby Wasabi dojo." Rudy said as the crowd went silent. "I'm glad so many could make it. We are about to put on a demonstration for you all, to show you the many forms of karate. And I am also glad to be able to introduce our special guest all the way from New York. Give it up for AUSTIN!" Applause filled the dojo as Austin entered the mats. The music started and soon he was of dancing all over the place…

* * *

I stood by the lockers taking in the scene in front of me. I'd never seen so many people in here before. Milton was giving his father, along with some of his nerd-friends a tour around the dojo. Jerry was showing of his nun-chucks skills for some girls. Kim was sitting on one of the benches talking to her friend Grace and Austin and Eddie were across the room surrounded by people, all trying to get to talk to Austin. His little dance had been really appreciated and he's been receiving compliments all evening. I was actually the one who got the least attention, which was kind of weird. I hadn't done an outstanding performance with my bow-staff routine, but it hadn't been too bad either. Of course I would have done a lot better if it wasn't for Austin constantly flirting with Kim, which kept on distracting me.

"Right, Jack?" I snapped out of my thoughts as I heard my name.

"Sorry, what?"

"I was just telling this man here, that we're one of the leading dojos in California." Rudy said proudly. "And we can offer a broad, good training program that will work as a solid foundation for any form of martial arts."

"Yeah" I nodded in agreement, even if Rudy was exaggerating a bit.

"That sounds really great." The tall man (or at least he looked very tall compared to Rudy) said. "My daughter has been whishing to take karate lessons for months. I figured I'm gonna sign her up for some, as a birthday surprise."

"Sounds good. How many lessons would you like?" Rudy asked.

"Maybe ten to start with and we'll see if she likes it and want to continue." The man said with his deep voice, giving Rudy a smile.

"I can guarantee you that she'll be good taken care of and she's gonna make some new friends as well." Rudy said.

"I can see that already." The man shot me a glance. His eyes stayed on me a bit too long and I felt really awkward.

"BANG!"

We all three jumped in surprise as a nun-chuck hit the locker with incredibly high speed. I didn't even see it coming. It was just pure luck that no one got hit by it.

"Jerry, you got to take it easy with these things." Rudy said as he picked up the nun-chuck. I looked at Jerry who seemed very confused and also a bit embarrassed by the fact that he dropped it. The girls next to him giggled.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" Rudy turned towards the man "I've gotta go." He quickly headed over to Jerry leaving me alone with the man, who turned to me.

"You were very good, I must say." He said to me.

"Thank you."

"How long have you been doing karate?"

"For as long as I can remember I guess. My grandfather was a sensei. He started to train me as soon as I was able to punch and kick." I smiled at the memories.

"Oh, I see. Do you train like several times a week?" He asked.

"Yeah, almost everyday, but that's because I like being here, around all my friends. We tend to hang here a lot. Even on weekends."

"Hm…interesting…" he mumble. He continued to speak to me, or at least I think he did. I was too occupied watching Austin, who was heading over to Kim. The way he looked at her made me wanna puke.

"Look I've gotta go." I said. "It was nice talking to you." I threw the last words over my shoulder as I left the confused man.

I just about beat Austin to the blond sitting on the bench.

"Hey, Kim" I said before Austin had a chance to say anything.

"Hi" she smiled at me. I hesitated, I hadn't really anything to say. The thought of Austin being around Kim had just worried me so much that I'd felt the need to rush over here. There is something about this whole situation that wasn't right. All these feelings stirring inside of me whenever I thought of Kim and Austin was really getting on my nerves. I don't know why I'm feeling like this, I can't even explain it to myself. Weird, huh?

The short moment that I was thinking on what to do next got Kim the time to move her attention towards Austin instead.

"Hey" he smiled as he met her gaze.

"Hi Austin."

"I just wanted to say that you were great today." He winked at her. "You made the whole thing worth watching."  
She returned his smile obviously flattered by his words. Their eyes met and I felt that I got to do something before this goes any further.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing, I mean her technique is really good." I said to Austin resting my elbow on Kim's shoulder as a 'Kim belongs with me' kind of gesture. Not that I had the right to proclaim her. I was just getting a bit desperate here.

Austin shot me a quick venomous glare before eyeing Kim again. I think he got my message…

"So Kim, I was wondering if you maybe would like to go grab a pizza or something tomorrow and then you can show me around here in town." He asked hopefully.

I think I forgot how to breathe as my fears of them going on a date were just realized. The weird thing was that I didn't even know that I feared it. Not until I felt that sickening feeling in my stomach as Austin asked the question.

"Sorry, she can't tomorrow." I blurted out. They both looked at me annoyed. "You said you would be with Eddie, Jerry and me, remember?" I explained as Kim's expression softened.

"Right, I almost forgot." But maybe Austin can come too?" She looked at us both hopefully. Now, why did she have to ask that? Her big, brown eyes pierced right into mine. I could never say no to them. But I really, really didn't want him to come and I was pretty sure that Eddie wouldn't be too happy about it either, since the whole idea with the movie night in the first place had been to avoid being around Austin.

But I also wanted to make Kim happy.

"I guess he can come." I said reluctantly.

"Yes, you hear that Austin." Kim's bright smile made me feel a bit better about my decision, at least for now.

Austin smiled but I could see that he was disappointed. This wasn't the way he had pictured tomorrow night and frankly it wasn't the way that I had pictured it either.

"Cool, I'll be there." He said. "Have you any plans for Sunday?"  
"No, none." Kim had answered his question quickly, probably afraid of me answering for her again.

"Maybe we can go and…"

"Yes, I would love to." Kim interrupted him.

"Ok, then it's a date I guess." He smiled victoriously at me before leaving.

I looked at him as he walked away, there were really no words that could describe how much I despised him at that moment.

"Are you sure you wanna go out with him?" I asked still hoping that in one way or another, she would change her mind.

"Yes I am." She said. "Why?"

"I don't trust him." I answered honestly.

"Look…, if this is about the conversation with Frank..."

"It is about that!" I exclaimed.

"I think you clearly overreacting, Jack." She said annoyed. "You didn't even hear what they said. It could have been a coincident. They might just ran into each other and they're probably never going to meet again." She raised her voice as she went along. "I'm just going to eat with him and show him around a little, since he doesn't have any other friends here and Eddie can't stand him. I actually think it's kind of cool to have him as a friend."  
"Wow, wow, wow…hang on… You just met him a few days ago." I said louder than necessary. "You don't know him and therefore you can't call him your friend yet, besides I think he has a bit more than friendship on his mind."

She looked at me with an expression that was very hard for me to read.

"That's none of your business, Jack. And F.Y.I. you don't know him so well either so there's clearly no reason for you to hate him."

"What?!"

"It's so obvious Jack so don't try to deny it. At least I'm gonna get to know him before I judge him."

I couldn't really argue with her on that because I knew she was right, I actually don't have any good reason to hate Austin and I never given him a chance. She turned in triumph knowing that she won this round.

I rushed to the dressing room, my emotions having a war inside of me. Once inside the lump in my throat started to grow. Our little fight had really gotten me upset. Sure, we've had lots of arguing and small fights before, and we use to tease each other, mostly for fun… But this time was different, because I knew that with every single of those words Kim was slipping away from me and closer to Austin. I had to force myself not to cry from anger and disappointment as I thought about it.

I decided to take a shower and change into my regular cloths. It was almost time to go home anyway. When I was getting dressed, Milton entered the dressing room.

"Are you leaving already?" He asked.

"Yeah, mom called." I lied pulling my jeans on, not noticing the small piece of paper that fell out of the pocket. "She'll be home earlier than expected."

"Ok, see you on Monday then."

"Yeah…" I stuffed the towel into my bag before grabbing it and tossing it over my shoulder. "Bye Milton and good luck with the chess tournament tomorrow." I gave him a smile before leaving.

Most of the people had left when I walked trough the dojo. Eddie and Austin looked like they were about to leave as well and Kim wasn't anywhere around. I waved goodbye to everyone before hurrying out the door. The cold air was soothing and I felt a bit better, I dreaded for tomorrow night though. What had I gotten myself into?

* * *

**Well, that was it... **

**Please review, that's the only way that I'll get to know what you think;) **


	6. The Date

**AN/Hi again... so sorry that it took me so long to update... Thank you so much for all your positive comments. And I saw someone comment that Jack was kind of stupid talking to the stranger. That was actually what I thought as well when I wrote it, I mean I would've never acted the way that Jack did but then I thought, hey he's Jack, he knows how to defend himself and I think that that makes him a bit overconfident around strangers sometimes... **

**Anyway, I was doing an overlook at all the chapters that is to come and let me tell you it's going to be a loooong story...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

**I think I'm done now so on with the story... This story is still written from Jack's pov btw...**

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Chapter 6

**The Date**

I poured the popcorn into a giant bowl and brought it to the living room. Jerry, Eddie and Austin were already sitting on the couch. There was a gap next to Austin for one more to sit, which meant that either I or Kim would have to sit there and the other would have to sit in the arm-chair.

I didn't like any of the options. I'd much preferred Austin in the chair and Kim next to me. Or even better Kim next to me and Austin out of my house.

I put the bowl down on the table and went to set up the DVD, keeping an eye on Austin. I didn't like having him here. Not only because of Kim (even if that is a major reason for not liking him…) but I also didn't trust him. It felt as if he was just waiting for the right moment to strike. I don't know what he's up to but I'm pretty sure that it's something.

"What movie are we gonna watch?" Austin asked.

"Captain America." Eddie answered with enthusiasm.

"Ok, that's a pretty good one. Kind of slow in the beginning though and some of the effects could have been better and the ending…" We all shot him annoyed glares.

"Oh, you guys haven't seen it?" He said.

"No we haven't." Eddie answered. "But you don't have to stay and watch it if you've already seen it. Mom can pick me up later."

_'Good try Eddie but it's never going to work…_' I thought.

"No, it's okay." Austin said.

_'See…'_

"Ding dong." The door bell chimed. I instantly jumped to my feet to go get it, knowing that it would be Kim. Her warm smile met me as I opened the door.

"Hi" I said returning her smile.

"Hi, sorry I'm late." She excused.

"It's ok, we haven't started yet."

She stepped in, closing the door behind her.

"Let me get that for you." I said as I took her jacket and placed it on a hook.

"Thanks"

"C'mon, hurry up!" Jerry shouted at us, from the living room.

"The others are already by the TV." I said gesturing for her to go first.

"Hi Kim." Austin scooted over a little to make more room for her, as we entered the living room, obviously wanting her to sit with him.

I could see Kim hesitating, when she noticed the empty seat next to Austin. That actually made me feel a bit better, it meant that she wasn't completely fine with sitting next to him, I think…

She went to sit there none the less and I did nothing to prevent it. I just reluctantly sat down in the arm-chair, hitting the play button.

I kept throwing glances at Austin throughout the entire movie. I concentrated more on him and Kim than the TV screen. Come to think of it; I don't recall much about the movie at all…

Somewhere in the second half of the movie when things started to get really dramatic I could see how Austin kind of stretched his arm over and around Kim. It was then, at that moment, when I saw Kim in the arms of another guy (sort of…) that I realized something. I liked Kim. Not just as a friend, but in a boy likes a girl kind of way. I think I always have and there was nothing that I wished for more than for Kim to be in my arms instead at that moment.

Suddenly Kim jumped and started to dig in her pocket for her cell. She looked at the small screen.

"Will you excuse me for a moment? I've got to get this." She said as she got up from the couch.

"Do you want me to pause the movie?" I asked.

"No it's ok." She hurried out towards the kitchen. Austin looked a bit surprised that she'd left so sudden and he probably felt kind of stupid with his arm stretched out in the air. I couldn't help but smile a little at that before returning to the movie.

The minutes went by and the movie was almost over when Kim finally reappeared.

"I've got to go. My mom will be here any minute." She said.

"Is everything ok?" I asked worriedly.

"Yes everything is fine." She said in weird voice. Kim's not a very good liar…

"Kim." Austin said. "I'll pick you up at 11 AM if that's ok with you?"

"Yeah, sure." She smiled, but I could see that there was something else behind that smile. "Well see you... Bye" She gave a small wave to the rest of the guys as I stood up to follow her to the door.

"What's going on?" I asked as soon as I was sure that the others couldn't hear.

"It's nothing… At least nothing serious and it's definitely nothing that you have to worry about." She gave me a reassuring smile.

"I can see that it's something that bothers you and it's actually bothering me to see you like that so you might as well tell me."

"It's not important." She shrugged. "Look, I'm sorry that I have to leave early, I know you've been looking forward to tonight. And I'm kind of ruined it for you."

"You haven't ruined it, I'm glad you came." I said truthfully.

A car pulled up by my house.

"Well, that's my ride…" Kim said. "You have to tell me how the movie ended."

"I will..." I smiled. "…or we can see it some other time."

"Yeah, we could...Bye then." She said as she stepped out on the porch.

"Bye, see you." I waved at her as she rode of, before heading back to the rest of the guys. The evening hadn't exactly turned out the way I planned and everyone was kind of in a bad mood. We've finished the movie and it didn't take long before the rest of the guys had left my house…

* * *

The courtyard of the mall was full of people as I jumped of my skateboard. I glanced at my watch. It said 13.00. That meant that Kim probably was with Austin by this very moment…either they're eating somewhere or she's showing him around town. I had in my naïve way thought that she was going to show him around the mall and that I could meet them here and … do something. It kind of seemed like a great idea before, but now I wasn't so sure. What was I supposed to do if I saw them? And what would Kim say? She'd probably think that I was spying on her or trying to ruin their date or something like that, which actually wasn't so far from the truth… The thought of Kim being alone with him had bothered me so much that I'd felt the need to check on them just in case... What if something happened to her?

Since there were no signs of them being here and I didn't really have anything else to do I decided to enter the dojo. I left my skateboard by my locker and was just about to knock on the door to Rudy's office when I felt as if someone was watching me. I turned around looking through the windows searching for the source of the feeling in my guts… Nothing or no one seemed suspicious, but there was something else that caught my attention.

At the other side of the courtyard heading trough the door of Falafel Phil's I saw the back of a familiar blond girl with a guy next to her, who by the way looked way too old for her…

They were laughing as they went to stand in line, waiting to order. Watching them carefully I moved closer to the windows, trying to get a better view.

Austin had placed his hand on Kim's lower back. I felt my heart sting. They were looking at the menu behind the counter when Austin let his hand slid down towards… Oh no he _didn't_…! I burst out from the dojo keeping my eyes fixed on him. To my surprise Kim actually moved away from his touch and turned to him, an annoyed look in her face. I stopped outside the entrance to Phil's. I couldn't help but smile when -by what it looked like from out here- Austin had to apologize to her. His face was priceless…

After a few moments they were done with their ordering and were about to head over to a table. I hurried inside, not wanting to be caught spying on them through the windows…

I went over to the line pretending that I was just here to order something like everybody else. When I was almost by the counter the unavoidable happened…

"Jack?" Kim sounded surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, hi Kim. Didn't see you there." I said in a rather clumsy way, making it kind of obvious that I actually had seen them. At least to Kim who knew me so well. I maybe had managed to fool Austin, I'm not sure, but I can tell that he didn't look too happy about me being there. "I was just getting a soda. It's rather hot today, don't you think?" I said.

"Yeah I guess…" Kim answered.

"What can I do for you today, Jack?" Phil asked in his very distinctive accent. I hadn't noticed that the line in front of me was gone and it was now my turn to order. Kim and Austin went to sit down at a table as I turned to Phil.

"Oh, just a coke please. A big one."

"Big a one coke, coming up." Phil managed to mix the words together. It took him no more than few seconds to bring me one. I paid him and went over to Kim and Austin's table.

"Can I sit here?" I asked, enjoying Austin's slightly horrified expression. "Everywhere else is full" I wasn't lying about that. There were truly a lot of people here today.

"Sure." Kim said in an almost relieved way. Hang on… was she actually glad that I came over here or was I just imagined that as a result of my naïve hopes.

Either way I was satisfied with the fact that Austin wasn't so pleased about this and I gave him a triumphed smile.

"These falafel balls are delicious." Austin said in an attempt to break the awkward silence that had lasted for several minutes between the three of us.

"Yeah, they're the best there is…" Kim smiled.

I took a sip of my coke, which I had been drinking _very_ slowly, knowing that the longer it took for me to finish my drink the longer I was being able to stay.

"Too bad the portions were so small…" Austin said a bit disappointed.

"I can get you some extra." Kim offered.

"No, you don't have to do that."

"No, really, it's ok." She rose from the chair. "How many?"

"Just a few will do." He answered. Kim gave him a small nod and left.

"So, I heard you were up against the Black Dragons on Saturday." Austin blurted out as soon as we were alone.

"Yeah…" I immediately got my guard up, not knowing where he was going with this.

"Nervous?"

"Nope." I answered truthfully. "Why?"

"It's just that some of them seem really good." He said.

"Really? How would you know?" As if I didn't know the answer to that already…

" Oh…" He hesitated, obviously he hadn't expected me to ask that question. "Kim told me that many of them were black belts." He shrugged. So he and Kim had been talking about the Black Dragons? Yeah, right… it couldn't have been for his talk with Frank earlier...

I studied him, trying to figure out what he was up to. Was he trying to intimidate me or was he trying to get some information out of me? ...or maybe both… I'll better choose my words carefully, I thought.

Even though I was focusing on Austin I could still see the tall figure standing right next to us, in the corner of my eye. They were fiddling around with a small object before it fell to the floor, rolling under our table. I tore my eyes away from Austin just to see a dumbfounded man with a wallet in his hands.

"Excuse me" the man said in a deep voice. "A coin rolled in under your table…"

I automatically searched the floor with my gaze until it stopped on a small shimmering item.

"I think I see it… I'll get it. "I offered as I bent down. The coin was further in than I expected. I actually had to get of my chair and onto my knees to reach it. I grabbed it and a few seconds later I emerged from under the table.

"There you go." I said as I handed the coin over to the man.

"Thank you." He smiled. I looked at him as he left us. There was something about him that was familiar. Had I seen him before?

"Strange guy…" Austin mumbled, before smiling at someone behind me. I didn't have to look to know who it was.

"There you go." Kim said as she put the plate with the falafel balls down in front of Austin.

"Ah…Thanks."

I swallowed down some more of my drink. "Have you guys been to the other side of the mall yet?" I asked them.

"Yeah… I think that we have covered most of it." Kim answered.

"It was really cool." Austin filled in. "But can't we go to the beach. It's really hot today…" I glared at him. I'll bet ya, the only reason why he wanted to go to the beach was to see Kim in a bikini. Although it was kind of hot today. I was actually getting a slight headache and I was thankful that I had ordered a _big_ soda.

"I don't think that I have time for that. My aunt is coming and I sort of promised mom I'll be there." Kim said. "I'm sorry…"

"It's ok…" Austin said, although he looked a bit disappointed, as he stuffed the last falafel ball into his mouth. He swallowed it and the next moment he and Kim were ready to leave. I quickly emptied the last of my drink (which was quite a lot by the way…) and immediately regretted it. The brain freeze was unbelievable. I flinched in pain. As I rose from my chair the whole world started to spin. I had to grab onto the table just to keep me from falling.

"Are you okay, Jack?" Kim sounded worried.

"Yeah… It's just the blood pressure… I think I rose to fast…" I said not wanting her to worry. I let go of the table when I was certain that I wouldn't faint. The dizziness had decreased somewhat but was not fully gone and I walked very carefully, trying not to do any sudden movements. As we walked out the door a wave of nausea hit me. I tried to ignore it, and thankfully it faded away.

"I just need to get my shirt in the dojo." Kim said. "I forgot it there earlier. I'll be back in a sec." She walked over the courtyard and into the dojo. I sat down on the nearest bench within my reach. I felt really weird. Was I coming up with the flu or something?

Austin had left me and was now looking with fascination at some strange lizards through the window of Reptile World. I put my head in my hands trying to stop everything from spinning around. My whole body felt weak and I had started to tremble. Another wave of nausea washed over me, much worse than the last one. Realizing where this was going I sprung to my feet and hurried off to the closest bathroom. On my way I glanced over at Austin, still standing outside Reptile World. Next to him was a teenager with curly blond hair who I knew all too well… A sly grin appeared on Frank's face as he saw me. Unfortunate I had no time to stop and 'chat' with them…

I threw the bathroom door open, rushing towards one of the booths. The rush to get there had made me feel very light-headed and I threw myself on the floor to prevent me from fainting. It was too late though. My sight became all blurry and I felt awful. Sweat was beading on my forehead and the trembling had become worse. The next moment everything around me disappeared into an endless stream of darkness…

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**Sorry about the cliffhanger...but I hope you liked it anyway.**

**Please don't forget to review. The more I get the quicker I'll be to update, I promise you that:)**

**/MJ **


	7. Where is he?

**AN/ Here I am with another update. Once again thank you for all your reviews.**

**This chapter isn't exactly the most exciting one, but it's gonna reveal some of Kim's thoughts. Yeah that's right, for the first time in this story Kim is going to have a say...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

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Chapter 7

**Where is he?**

**Kim's pov.**

The morning sun let its warm rays fall on me as I walked along the sidewalk. I've been so used to walk with Jack to school for the past year that it felt kind of strange to be walking all by myself. I wondered where he was. He hadn't answered any of my calls or text messages all morning, which wasn't like him. I had been waiting for him for almost ten minutes before I had given up and walked off by myself, not wanting to be late…

It made me wonder if he was mad at me for Austin. I mean he has made it quite clear that he doesn't like him, and when I started to spend some more time with Austin instead of Jack…. That's when I saw a real change in Jack's attitude. Was he jealous? No matter how much I'd like to think that, he's probably not. I think that maybe Jack's feels a bit threaten by him since he did such a good job at the show and he was actually more popular than Jack. And to add-on Jack had seen him with Frank, which I thought just had been a misunderstanding. I hadn't actually believed Jack when he told me. Not until I returned from the dojo yesterday and I caught Austin joking around with Frank in the courtyard of the mall, did I realize that Jack was telling the truth and he had been sincerely worried about it. Austin had awkwardly introduced me to Frank and told me that he'd just met him. Pfft… like I was going to believe that. I had just played along though not wanting Austin to realize that I had him all figured out. Frank had actually blushed when he saw me, it made me wonder if he truly did have a crush on me as Jack always use to joke about… I smiled at the memory as I kicked a small rock that happened to be in my way.

Jack… I hadn't seen him since we walked out from Falafel Phil's yesterday. Austin had told me he'd left in a hurry. Now, when I think about it, that was kind of strange. Jack never leaves without a single word, but yesterday I hadn't given it a second thought. I was too occupied with Austin. We had ended our 'date' there since I 'had' to go home and meet my aunt. Mum had actually told me that it was okay if I didn't show up, but I had nothing better to use as an excuse for not going to the beach…

After my talk with Jack in the dojo after the show I had realized that Austin was seriously hitting on me and it actually freaked me out a little. I mean Austin have said a lot of sweet things to me ever since we first met and what girl doesn't like to get compliments, especially from such a cool guy like Austin. I'd appreciated his words and all the attention that he'd given me, but when he started to get a bit physical and clearly showing that he wanted something more than friendship (just as Jack had said…) I was getting uncomfortable. That's why I had pretended to get a phone call in the middle of the movie, when in reality I had gone out to call my mother, for her to pick me up.

Yesterday Austin had been really difficult to be around since he constantly was trying to make a move on me and I was constantly trying to prevent him from doing so as smooth as possible, keeping him busy by showing him new things. When it was time for us to grab some food I was quite worried about him trying more seriously. I can't tell you how glad I was that Jack happened to show up just in time.

It makes me kind of sad that Austin only seems to be after one thing. I really like him as a friend, I mean he's a nice guy but to hang out with him now will be kind of complicated. I have no such feelings for him at all. I simply don't fall for boys that easily, I really need to get to know them first…Ok I may had a small thing for Ricky Wiever (who I actually didn't know…), but hey who doesn't have a celebrity crush. My feelings for him had quickly disappeared though when I found out that he was a big jerk, just like Jack had warned me that he was…

My thoughts went back to Jack… He's different from all the other guys. He's always by my side no matter how stupid I am sometimes… I still recall the first time I saw him in the cafeteria. I had liked him instantly and kind of hoped that maybe we could be more than just friends. But I still haven't got the courage to tell him about my feelings for him. Even though I thought that he suspected something after constantly mocking me about me having a crush on him in the beginning… It would be awkward to hang out with him if he knew and didn't feel the same way about me and I can't simply afford to lose him. He's my best and closest friend; he knows stuff about me that not even Grace knows. I would trust Jack with my life and yet I didn't believe him when he told me about Austin. I felt horrible, no wonder he was ignoring me… He's done everything for me and I just ditched him for someone like Austin who I don't even know.

I wanted to talk to Jack about Austin so bad right now…

The school building came into view and I speeded up my pace. Maybe Jack was already inside. I looked for him as I walked through the glass doors. The hallway was packed with people, making my search for the brunette harder then I thought it would be. I saw our lockers kind of expecting Jack to stand by them, but to my disappointment he wasn't there…

A glance at the clock on the wall made me hurry to throw my jacket in my locker and to grab my math book. I hat to have math on Monday mornings. My brain is never fully functioning after the weekends… The lessons never seem to end, and today was no different…

I had a really hard time concentrating on the equations in my book as my mind was constantly thinking about what had happened yesterday. Why had Jack left? And why hadn't he answered any of my calls? And why hadn't I seen him yet? Wonder if Austin had said something to him? And if he had what did he say? These and probably a hundred other questions went through my head. I'm soon gonna get some answers though. Next class was social studies, a class that both Jack and I took, so I could talk (or whisper…) with him then. When the bell finally rang I got my stuff and headed back to my locker. Still no sign of Jack. I switched books and headed of to my next class. A bunch of students were already waiting outside the classroom as I got there. To my surprise Jerry was among them, as he's actually supposed to be. That doesn't happen too often as he has a bad habit of always being late…

"Hey Jerry." I said approaching him.

"Oh, hi Kim" He put on a goofy smile.

"What are you doing here so early?" I said sarcasm.

"I thought I just swing by." He shrugged. "Oh have you seen Jack? I've found a n…" He was cut of as Mrs Palmer greeted everyone.

"Good morning." She said as she opened the door that led to the classroom. "Today we are going to start to talk about how the government works."

Ooo, Sounds exiting…not…

I wanted to talk more to Jerry about Jack, but the next thing I knew we were all making our way to our seats. There were still no sign of Jack. I kept throwing glances at the door every now and then hoping that it would open up and a boy with chocolate brow eyes would make an entrance, making up some lame excuse for being late before getting to his seat. But the door remained closed and the chair remained empty…

By lunchtime I had given up my hopes… Jack wasn't gonna show up today. I was sitting in the cafeteria with Eddie and Jerry as Milton headed over to us.

"Guess who qualified to the chess finals." He said proudly as he put his tray on the table.

"You did." Eddie said in between bites.

"I sure did." Milton was smiling from ear to ear. "You should have seen Logan's face when I checked his King." He noticed the empty chair next to me. "Hey, where is Jack?"

"Don't know. He's not here, anyway." Jerry shrugged. Milton looked confused at him.

"We haven't seen or heard from him the whole day." I explained. "Last time I saw him was yesterday. But he didn't say anything then about not coming to school today."

Milton seemed to think about that for a moment before saying "Maybe he's ill."

I looked at him. I hadn't thought of that, but that actually made sense. Jack had been feeling dizzy when we were about to leave Falafel Phil's. It had quickly disappeared though, but he still looked a bit pale… What if he's gotten worse?

"Yeah you're probably right." I said.

* * *

After putting on my GI I entered the dojo. Milton was already standing on the mats ready to spar with me. Jerry and Eddie were sitting on the floor unusually quiet. It seemed as the absent of Jack affected everyone. It most certain affected me… The thing that worried me the most was the silence. None of us had been able to reach him. That meant that he wasn't just ignoring me, which I had thought at first.

"Okay, let's get going." The sound of Rudy's voice snapped me back to reality again. He was rubbing his hands together with enthusiasm, before looking kind of dumbfounded. "Wait a minute… Where is Jack?"

"We don't know." I answered. "He wasn't in school today either."

"We believe he's sick." Eddie said.

"Oh… you've heard anything from him?" Rudy sounded worried.

"No." Milton shook his head. "He hasn't answered any of our calls or text messages all day."

Rudy had a troubled expression on his face. It looked as if he was going to say something when a very familiar melody started to play from inside my locker. The sound of it made me react before I could even think. I opened my locker and started my frantic search for the source of the sound. I dug my phone out from the pocket of my jacket, looking at the number on the screen. I drew in a short breath when I saw the number of Jack's home phone number all over the display. I quickly answered.

"Hello." The rest of the Wasabi Warriors stepped in closer to listen.

"Oh, Hi Kim. I'm so glad I could reach you. I've tried to call Jack but he didn't answer." A female voice that belonged to Jack's mom said on the other end. "Could you please remind him to get the package from the post office before going home?"

"I would if I could" I answered her. "He's not here….hang on… is he ok? Why wasn't he at school today?" The questions just poured out of me.

"What are you talking about?" Mrs Brewer asked worriedly. "Of course he was at school today. Didn't you guys walk together?"

"No" I said.

"But he was staying at your house tonight, right?" I could hear her getting more anxious. "He sent me a text yesterday evening, saying that he was going to, since you two had so much to work on on your project." A wave of fear went through me as realization hit me… I took a deep breath before saying "He hasn't been staying at my place and none of us have seen him all day…"

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**Sorry about the cliffhanger... again... and that you didn't get to find out anything about Jack...**

**So the question still remains... What has happened to Jack and where is he? Well, you're all gonna find out in the next chapter so hang in there and please don't forget to review;)**

**/MJ**


	8. Where am I?

**AN/ Hello everybody, I'm back with another chapter. This story has reached over 50 reviews! Thank you so much. You guys are the best.**

**I'm sorry that it took me so long to update, I've just been really busy and still gonna be until next weekend. I hope to be able to make another update next week but I can't make any promises... But on the bright side, after the 2nd of september I'm going to have a lot more time to write and the updates will be much faster.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it. **

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Chapter 8

**Where am I?**

**Jack's pov.**

I shivered slightly. My whole body felt sore from lying on the ground, for that what it must be, this cold and hard surface underneath my back. With a moan I laid my hand on my forehead. The pain in my head was terrible. I didn't dare to open my eyes in fear of the light making the headache even worse. What was happening to me?

The nausea was gone but my whole body felt limp and every tiny move I made sent another painful chock trough my head. Deciding that it would be useless to try to do anything, I just lay there, waiting for the pain to disappear or maybe for someone to come to my rescue… I was trying my hardest to ignore the pain and relaxing my body in an attempt to maybe go to sleep, just to escape the headache but that seemed almost impossible.

I don't know for how long I laid there, but eventually the pain started to fade away. It took all my willpower but I finally managed to open my eyes very slowly, dreading the pain it might cause.

To my surprise it wasn't that bad. The light was dim and the room had a softer grey color to it, not that bright white color that the bathrooms of the mall had… Wait a minute… I shot my eyes wide open scanning the place. Where the heck was I?

I turned my head to the side trying to get a better view of the room. It wasn't any big room; the walls seemed to be made out of concrete. On the wall which my feet was pointing at there was a sink and next to it…a toilet? Maybe this was the bathroom that I ran into after all…above the sink, almost up by the ceiling there was a very small window revealing that the sun was still up. I shifted my body to a more comfortable position hitting my left leg on something hard that made a metallic sound. I turned my head to the other side seeing metal bars running up like maybe 3 feet of the ground and were jointed together at the top. Nope, this was definitely not the toilet booth that was the last thing that I could remember before passing out. After looking a bit closer at the object next to me I realized that it was the headboard of a bed. Seriously, whoever (I was pretty sure it was someone because I have no memory of getting here by myself…) brought me here couldn't have dumped me in that instead? My back felt stiff as a board from lying on the floor.

I managed to sit up by taking hold of the bed and slowly pulling me up. Wondering how long I've been here I took a look at my watch. My eyes widened as I realized how late it was, ten minutes past eight. That meant that I've been out for several hours… this thought scared me. I hated not having control of the things going on around me.

I don't know why but I sort of developed a habit of thinking of Kim as soon as something worried me. It always seems to calm me down to think of her, pretending that she is sitting right next to me, soothing me with some calming words. But not today… as soon as she popped up in my head I wondered what she had done after I was gone. Had she continued to hang out with Austin? Or had she gone home to meet her aunt? The scene that took place at Falafel Phil's just kept repeating itself inside of my head. The way Kim had looked and smiled at me when she'd seen me (ok I know that I'm probably imagine that she liked having me there, but hey a guy can always dream, right?…). The way Austin's face had changed when he saw me not to mention the way he looked at Kim… The last thought made me tighten my grip of the bed slightly.

The headache was almost gone now or at least when I held my head still. I heaved myself up to my feet. Feeling as if I would fall again I quickly sat down on the bed. Ok so I wasn't fully back to normal even though I felt a lot better.

Sitting on the edge of the bed gave me a much better view of the room and especially the wall that my back had been facing. The wall was the opposite to the wall with the sink and the window and on the middle of it was a door that seemed to be made of some kind of metal. It looked like one of those heavy steel doors that you see on bunkers and such and it marked the only way in and out of this place…

I didn't bother to go over to it just yet, knowing that I would probably only make it halfway before collapsing.

My mind went back to Austin. He had been talking about the Black Dragons as soon as Kim left, but I still hadn't figured out what his purpose with that was. The last thing I saw of him he was talking to Frank outside in the courtyard. Clearly there was something going on here. Frank had noticed me seeing them. I wonder if that makes any difference to them knowing that I was on to something. What excuse would they've come up with if Kim got back and caught them in the middle of their scheme planning…

…Kim… Oh, no… It all came clear to me. Kim was what they're after. That's why Austin has been all over her and trying his best to get to be alone with her. And that's why Frank had happened to be at the mall at that very moment. Frank probably want her to be a part of the Black Dragon dojo or to get revenge or to use her to blackmail me from entering the tournament… I could think of numbers of reasons of why they were after her, and new once just kept popping up in my mind. I've got to get back before something happens to her, if it isn't too late already… Luckily my strength was coming back to me and I felt surprisingly good when I went to stand.

How convenient for Frank and Austin that I was to pass out just then and there, I thought as I made my way over to the door, very carefully due to my condition. I twisted the doorknob and pushed on the door. Nothing happened. After pulling and pushing hard on the door a couple of times, I finally had to accept the fact that it was locked. Apparently they didn't want me to leave anytime soon… That's when it hit me. It wasn't any coincident that I had passed out just so that they could go through with whatever plan they had. I had been drugged. No wonder I was feeling like this… I searched my mind for any information that I might unknowingly had picked up. How did they manage to drug me?

I didn't have to think too long about that…

The soda. Austin must have put something in it when I was under the table picking up that stupid coin. Anger boiled up inside of me as I started to bang my fists on the door shouting.

"I KNOW IT WAS YOU, AUSTIN! LET ME OUT! YOU BETTER NOT LAY ONE HAND ON KIM OR I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!"  
There was no answer. I stopped, feeling all dizzy from the pounding and the shouting. I had to lean slightly on the door to keep my balance. On the upper half of the door I noticed a small rectangle shaped form. It looked as if it could be opened from the outside, kind of like a mailbox. It was just big enough for me to get my hand through it (if it would be open…).

In search of any other way out I looked at the window on the other side of the room. It was very high up on the wall and I would have to climb on the sink to be able to reach it and if I would manage to get to it and also break it, it would still be too small for me to get through. I sighed, my brain working on any escape plan possible. I searched my pockets for my cell phone in hope of being able to call someone. Realizing that I didn't have it made me slightly panic. How was I supposed to get back to Kim? And how long would it take for someone to come to open the door? What if no one was going to come, ever? After all, judging by the way the room was 'furnished' it did look like they've been planing on me staying here for a while. I started to get scared for real when suddenly I heard footsteps on the other side of the door getting closer. I took a step back getting in position to defend myself from whoever opens that door. Hoping that I would be strong enough to fight them off, though I knew that if it was Frank I would have a very small chance to make it in the condition I was in.

There wasn't any sound of a key turning the lock, instead it sounded as if something heavy was being lifted away like a giant bolt or something. I took a deep breath as the door started to open. Here goes… The person came into view, a sly grin on their face. I lowered my guard in surprise my eyes wide.

"You..?"

* * *

**I'm starting to get good on those cliffhangers;P **

**Anyway, what did you think? **


	9. Searching

**AN/ I'M BACK! ****Finally... Hope you haven't forgotten the story. I don't know if you've noticed but from now on every other chapter will be from Kim's point of view and all the chapters in between will be from Jack's point of view.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.**

* * *

Chapter 9

**Searching**

**Kim's pov.**

"But he was staying at your house tonight, right?" I could hear her getting more anxious. "He sent me a text yesterday evening, saying that he was going to, since you two had so much to work on on your project." A wave of fear went through me as realization hit me… I took a deep breath before saying "He hasn't been staying at my place and none of us have seen him all day…"

"What do you mean you haven't seen him?" Mrs Brewer spoke louder and faster than before and it sounded as if she was going to panic. I couldn't blame her, the same feelings were going through me as well but I'd tried to hold it together though. I didn't know what to answer her. I had meant exactly what I said. "…but he hasn't been at home either…" She said, close to tears now.

Feeling that I needed to do something that could calm both me and her down, I spoke.

"Look, the last time I saw him was yesterday. Right here at the mall." I tried to sound hopeful. "Maybe he's still around here somewhere or someone must have seen him."

There was a moment of silence before I heard her take a deep breath. "I'll try to call him one last time…" she said. "…and if he doesn't answer I'm going to call the police and report him missing."

"Ok good." I said. "We'll go and search for him here at the mall. I'll call you back if we find him or anything else that could help us."

"Okay, thank you." She hung up before I had the chance to say goodbye probably to anxious to wait any longer to call him.

I looked up at the rest of the guys that had been standing around me trying to hear as much as possible of our conversation.

"What's going on?" Rudy asked concerned. I think he knew the answer, he just couldn't believe that it was true and neither could I.

"Jack's gone." The words were hard to for me to say.

"What do you mean gone?" Milton asked.

"I mean no one has seen or heard from him since yesterday." I retorted.

"This is bad…" Rudy said shaking his head.

"Yeah…" Jerry said. "Now I can't give him the no…"

"Sup guys?" Austin greeted in his normal cheerful tone as he entered to dojo.

We all turned and looked at him. No one had to say anything while our faces clearly showed that something was wrong. Austin's smile disappeared and was replaced by a worried frown.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Jack's gone." Eddie answered. My heart ached a little by the mention of those words.

"Oh…" Austin looked surprised and almost frightened at first, but quickly changed, probably trying to maintain his cool and relaxed image. "What are you going to do about it?"

I raised my eyebrows. That was a stupid question to ask.

"We're gonna go and look for him." Rudy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it actually was.

"Oh…ok" Austin nodded.

"We don't have time to stick around here any longer." Milton threw his hands in the air as to making a point. "I say we split up."

"Good idea." Rudy said. "Jerry and Eddie come with me. Kim you'll go with Milton… and Austin you can help too."  
Austin had an anxious expression on his face and there was a moment of hesitation before he answered.

"Yes, of course." He put on a smile, but neither the smile nor the words were convincing. I was disappointed of him by that. Did he really have to think it over before answering? I mean if anyone asked me to help finding a missing person, I wouldn't give it a second thought. Was it because he didn't like Jack (which I've figured out he didn't) or was it something else?  
I looked at Austin trying to make out what was hiding behind his faked smile. It sure was something I just couldn't put my finger on it.

"Great! Let's go then." Rudy said as he gestured for us to come with him.

Outside Rudy, Eddie and Jerry made it to the other side of the mall and I was left with Milton and Austin.

I was thankful to be with Milton. His brain is almost like a secret weapon and he will probably pick up things that the rest of us would overlook.

"Ok, so when was the last time anyone saw him." He asked.

"Yesterday around two o'clock, right here in the courtyard." I replayed. "I went into the dojo and Jack and Austin were waiting outside..." I had turned towards Austin at the same time as I mentioned his name.

Austin looked a bit nervous at first. Weird…

"What?" He raised an eyebrow.

"You were the last one who saw him." I said. "Could you tell us more specific what happened when I was gone."

"Sure. He sat down on the bench over there." Austin pointed. "…and I headed over to Reptile World to check out those weird-looking lizards."

"Yeah those lizards always freak me out." Milton shuddered. "It's like their tiny eyes never stop staring at you and that tail that…"

"Guys!" I interrupted. "Can we please stay focused on the case here?"

"Sorry Kim." Milton apologized before looking curiously at Austin.

After a few seconds of awkward silence Austin noticed us waiting for him to continue.

"Oh right… I was standing right about here…" he placed himself outside the window of Reptile World. "…and then Frank came from over there. He stopped and talked."

I saw Milton's eyes almost pop out of his head by the mention of Frank.

"You don't mean Frank from the Black Dragons I hope." He said.

"Yes I'm pretty sure I do." Austin replied.

"WHAT?!" Milton exclaimed. "Do you have any idea…!"

"It's ok Milton." I put my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "What did Frank say?" I turned to Austin again.

"He just wanted to know…" He hesitated "…if I was going to be a part of your dojo since he's seen me hanging out with you guys a lot and he wondered if I was going to be at the tournament. But I told him that I'm only here to visit and I'll soon be going home again." He rambled nervously.

It sounded kind of weird that Frank would bother to care about that, but I didn't ask anything more about it. The only thing that I could focus on was Jack and to find out where he was was the most important thing at that moment.

"What was the last thing you saw of Jack." I asked.

"Like I told you before he just hurried of in that direction without saying a word." Austin said.

We looked at the scene where Jack was last spotted. He had been heading deeper into the mall. That was odd. There was nothing there, that I could think of that he needed to hurry of for. There was no one he knew neither were there any stores that he would care to visit only a couple of bathrooms and a …

That's when it hit me. Jack hadn't been feeling so good when we left Falafel Phil's. He had said that he was alright but he had looked pale and he'd been unusually quiet. How come I hadn't thought of that earlier?

"The bathroom." I said as Milton and Austin gave me weird looks. "That's where he was heading."

* * *

We walked in silence. Our hopes of finding Jack somewhere here in the mall were as good as gone. There had been no sign of him anywhere, not even the bathroom which I had been so sure there would be some sort of clue in. I was on the verge of crying as we made yet another search around the mall, looking in places that we've already looked in. The searching had been going on for hours and it was getting dark outside. What if we never find him? I quickly block the thought out of my head. Of course we're gonna find him… I reassured myself.

We stopped as we reached the dojo again meeting the rest of the guys.

"Any luck?" Milton asked.

Rudy just shock his head as my heart sank to the bottom of my chest.

"Look it's starting to get late and his obviously not here anywhere so…" Austin began.

"No, no" I shook my head. "We can't give up now." The lump in my throat grew, making it hard for me to talk.

"Austin's right." Rudy said. "I've talked with Mrs. Brewer for over an hour ago and she has contacted the police, so there's really not much more we can do now. I'm sorry. You should all go home and rest and let the police take over."

"But what if he's still here somewhere and needs our help." I said my voice cracking at the last words, my vision getting blurry from the tears that threatened to fall from my eyes. I did my best to suppress them though; I was not going to cry...

"He's not we've already checked everywhere." Austin reassured. I knew it was true but I just couldn't accept the fact that he was gone. I couldn't speak without breaking down crying so I just gave them a small nod to let them know that I understood the situation.

"Well, see you all in the morning." Milton said as he gave us a weak smile.

"Bye…" Eddie muttered before he and Austin made their way out. They all left with their heads hanging and the usually so cheerful group of boys remained silent. Rudy and I were the last ones to leave.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" He offered.

"No, I'll walk."

"Are you sure." I gave him a nod as a stupid tear fell and made its way down my cheek. I quickly wiped it off.

"Look, I know this is hard for you and we're all worried, but we gotta have faith that Jack will come back." He put a hand on my shoulder. "And after all he's Jack, if anyone can take care of themselves it's him." I smiled a little at that before he continued. "Tomorrow's a new day and we'll continue the search then. No one has given up on finding him, Kim."

"Thanks." I sighed feeling a bit better.

"So are you sure you don't want a ride home?"

"Yes I'm sure." I nodded "It's not that far, but I'll better get going it's getting late."

"Ok, See you." Rudy smiled

"Bye." I said before I turned around and left.

* * *

I took one last stroll outside of the mall, just to make sure we hadn't missed anything. As I was alone in the dark, the feeling of hopelessness filled me. How was I supposed to be able to go to school in the morning if Jack wasn't there? Everything there reminded me of him and to just sit there and wait for someone else to find him… That wasn't going to happen…

I took out my cell, searching through my contact list until I got to Jack's. In a last desperate try to reach him I called the number, knowing already that it would be pointless. The signals went on until Jack's voice answered on the other end.

"Hi Jack here, I can't take your call right now, but call later or leave a message after the beep…"

The sound of his voice made the tears starting to form again. I missed him so bad already. It was then and there that I made a promise to myself that I was never ever going to stop searching for him, not for as long as I lived and I would do whatever it took to get him back.

I had almost made it around the whole mall by now. Standing beside the dumpster I dialed his number again just to hear his voice again. It was like the small voice message was the only thing that connected him to me and I needed to hear it. As soon as it started ringing on the other end a very familiar tune came from the dumpster. I instantly recognized it. Just to make sure I hung up and the melody stopped. My heart skipped a beat as I realized that Jack's phone must be in the dumpster, perhaps even Jack… The last thought scared me and horrible images flashed before my eyes. Trying my best to think positive thoughts I called his phone again trying to locate the sound. I climbed up on the side of the dumpster. The smell was disgusting, but I knew what I had to do. I carefully crawled down into the dumpster feeling my way through as the darkness made it almost impossible to see anything at all. As soon as I was safely on the giant pile of trash I used my phone as a torch. It didn't take too long before I found the sack where Jack's phone was in. I kept calling until I could see it. I dug it out from under some wet tissues… I probably don't want to know what was on them… The smell and feel of the sticky trash grossed me out and I was almost on the verge to throw up. I had to constantly remind myself of that Jack was definitely worth this.

After grabbing the phone I quickly made my way out again. Once on the ground I searched Jack's phone for his latest call or text. There were about 35 unanswered calls, I didn't look at them so closely knowing that probably more than half of them were from me.

He hadn't made any calls yesterday, just a few text's and one in particular caught my attention. The text message was sent to his mother around a quarter past two, that's just like ten minutes or something after we left Falafel Phil's and read '_hi, I'm staying at Kim's tonight. We're working on a project and there's a lot to do, it looks like it's gonna be late. I'm offered to sleep on the couch /Love ya Jack.' _

I read the text over and over again. I remembered that Mrs. Brewer had mention that Jack was supposed to sleep at my house, but I hadn't paid much attention to it since the fact that he was missing had occupied my thoughts.

The weird part was that we hadn't agreed that he would sleep at my place and there was definitely no project that we were working on. So the question was; why would he lie to his mother about something like that?

It made no sense to me. Not to mention the fact that his phone was in the trash. It's almost as if he wanted to disappear. I couldn't help but feel guilty. I hadn't been so nice to him for the past days and what if he ran away because of me?

No, that probably wasn't it… Maybe he _didn't_ wanna disappear, but someone else did…

The thought made me panic slightly and I hurried of home, to tell…someone about this…and to take a shower…

* * *

**Hope it was worth waiting for... Ok so now to some questions... What was Jack's phone doing in the dumpster and what's up with the text message?**

**Is Austin hiding something and if so, what is it? **

**And we still don't know where Jack's location is...(well I sort of do, but you get it;P...)**

**What do you think?**

**Next chapter is almost done and if I get some help and inspiration from you guys I'll probably be able to update tomorrow or on Saturday;)**

**Thanks for reading, see ya.**

**/MJ**


	10. Madness

**AN/ hello. I am so so sorry for the update. My computer has been messing with me and I had to rewrite the chapter... but at least I think that the chapter turned out better the second time, so something good came out of it... I also had a little problem with one of the characters in this chapter as he's a bit confusing (you'll see what i mean...).**

**Thank you so much RazMaster, IHopeYouDance101, QeenCupcake101 and .Possible for all your reviews on the last chapter, they mean a lot to me. And a special shout out to Maddy who's been reviewing on all my chapters. You're awesome;)**

**Hope that you're all gonna like this chapter, but I must warn you, things will get a bit rough...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

Chapter 10

**Madness**

**Jack's pov.**

I took a deep breath as the door started to open. Here goes… The person came into view, a sly grin on their face. I lowered my guard in surprise, my eyes wide.

"You..?" I looked at the tall man before me. "But how…?" It was the last person I'd expected it to be, but now as I was face to face with my captor the pieces started to come together. He was the same man who I've seen back at Falafel Phil's. It was the man whose coin I'd picked up from under the table… but he seemed familiar from somewhere else too, just as I thought he was when I'd seen him in the restaurant. He was dressed in a light blue overall that most likely was his working uniform and in one hand he held a broom.

His green eyes were gazing on me, although as he started to speak his words weren't meant for my ears.

"Look at this." He made a gesture towards me as if I was the 'thing' to look at, a mesmerized expression on his face. "Aren't you happy?"

I raised an eyebrow. Was he talking to me? If, so that was a stupid question to ask… I leaned over to the side -very carefully as my balance still wasn't back to normal- to see if there was anyone else behind him. It was hard to get a good view as he had opened the door just enough for him to get trough, and when he noticed me moving he pushed the door shut behind his back, never taking his eyes off of me, which was a bit freaky.

"Told you, you can always count on your daddy." He said a clear tone of pride chimed in his otherwise very deep voice, which I had started to recognize.

"Excuse me." I seemed to have gotten his attention as his eyes refocused on _me_. "Are you talking to me?" I tried to keep a friendly tone. He looked confused at me, almost as if he hadn't expected me to speak, before he smiled…oddly… I couldn't tell what kind of smile it was. Was it friendly or sly, real or fake…? I don't know…

"Oh sorry I haven't introduced myself." He said as he whipped his slightly long brown hair out of his eyes. "I'm Mark." He switched the broom to his left hand so that he could offer his right for me to shake. I hesitantly took it. I wasn't sure I could trust him, after all he brought me here or at least I think he did…

"Jack" I introduced myself. "Have we met before?" I asked suspicious. I was absolutely sure that we had met and probably more than once… I just couldn't remember when or where.

He hesitated as if he was thinking his answer through. It made me wonder if he didn't remember it either.

"Yes…actually I think we have met at the dojo once." He retorted. "Your sensei introduced us for each other." The scene at the dojo flashed before my eyes and in an instant I recalled him. I hadn't paid much attention to him then as I was too busy keeping an eye on Austin and Kim. The thought of them reminded me that I really needed to get going… but Mark continued to talk to me and his next words made me forget about Kim and Austin immediately (but only temporarily).

"I was there to sign my daughter Tess up for some karate lessons."

Wait…What?!

"You're Tess's father?" He stared at me, his expression that out of fear and surprise, like the face of a kid you just caught drawing on the walls… It almost seemed as if he was afraid he had said too much…

After several seconds of silence he finally said. "Yes, I am. You know her?" His attitude had quickly changed to more relaxed as he threw the last question out.

"No, not really… Hey, then we met at the tournament as well. You took that picture of us." I said "But didn't you have like ginger colored hair?"

"Hair dye." He simply answered. Well, that explains why I hadn't recognized him in the dojo as the guy back at the tournament, I thought.

My eyes lingered on his outfit as I recalled something vital. "Why are you dressed like that?"

He looked down at his clothes as if to check what he was wearing.

"I work as a janitor at the mall." He said as he once again let his green eyes focus on me. 'Something was't right about that' I thought, I was definitely on to something there. I wanted to see how much more information I could get out of him so I continued…

"Have you just finished your work for today?" I asked casually.

"No, I've just started." He said." I hate Monday mornings…"

"What…?!" I slightly panicked, but I tried not to show it too much. I had been out for like 18 hours or something…! Wonder if anyone noticed that I'm gone yet…

Mark looked at me after my exclamation that had cut him off. Trying to smooth it over I stuttered.

"Wha…what… kind of place is this?"

"It's the basement under the mall. This is my small 'hideout' so to speak. I use to spend my breaks here and sometimes I even sleep here." He smiled sheepishly. Ok so that kind of explains the interior of this room.

"Why am I here?" That was the question that I've wanted to know the answer to the most.

"We found you in one of the bathrooms on the floor unconscious, so we brought you here for you to rest."

"Then why did you place me on the floor and not in the bed that was practically right next to me?" I was a little upset by this whole situation and the words had come out harsher than I'd expected.

"You were too heavy for Tess to li…" He raised his voice in a defensive way.

"Oh so Tess was here too?" I cut him of.

He hesitated to answer me and I took the opportunity to let him know that I had him figured out, sort of…

"I actually got a note from her saying that you had a company of some sort which is kind of strange considering that you're working here as a janitor."

I could see the panic in his eyes as he tried to think of something to say but since he remained silent I continued.

"Why did you lock the door?" I was pretty mad about that, I must say... "And where's my phone?" Not to mention that…

"You had no phone on you when we found you and Tess must have locked the door by mistake when she left." He said, his gaze starting to go through me again, as if I didn't exist.

"Do my parents know I'm here?!" I said having a hard time not to lose my temper. Marks expression changed and I almost didn't recognize him anymore. It was as if his features were changing right before my eyes, weird huh?

"Parents…" he said softly as if he was yet again speaking to someone else in the room, addressing them instead of me. "Don't you like having me around, Tess?"

Ok this man seriously started to freak me out. What was he talking about?

"You know I'll do anything for you…" He continued as he picked up a small bag of pastilles. "You want one?" He asked after shoving a few of them into his mouth. I shook my head.

"Suit yourself." He shrugged as I finally realized who he was.

"You…! You were that guy I met behind the gym. I was waiting for you and your daughter… and _you_ where there all the time?!" I exclaimed, ignoring the slight dizziness it caused, my body still affected by the drugs. "Are you stalking me or something?"

"No…not anymore…" Mark said the last words so quiet that I barely heard them at all.

"Look I don't have time for this. I've gotta get back." I made an attempt to go past him to the door, but as soon as he noticed what I was trying to do, he quickly stepped in front of me, blocking my way out. Feeling slightly threatened by his actions I looked up at his face, which was deathly serious. I took a step back not feeling comfortable standing so close to him.

"Excuse me." I tried again. "I really need to get back before…" he cut me of by taking a step forward closing the gap between us once again. His green eyes held madness within them that frankly scared me and I instinctively backed of again. He cleared his throat.

"You see…I can't let you leave. What would she think of me then?" I gave him a confused look when all of a sudden he swung the broomstick that he had been holding at me. I barely managed to dodge the blow. My head spun and I felt dizzy from the sudden movement, not fully recovered yet.

In the corner of my eye I saw him strike for me once more. I tried to move away but my body refused to respond the way it normally does.

The blow hit me in the stomach, forcing me to bend over in pain. Clutching my stomach I gasped for air.

I barely got time to comprehend what was happening before a striking pain shot through my back as the broomstick once again made contact with me. I let out a small cry as I fell to my knees, shaking from both pain and fear. I looked up at him in a silent plea for him to stop, only to see him aim a kick at me. Knowing that I wouldn't be fast enough to get away in this condition I shielded my face behind my arms and prepared myself for the blow. It came fast and strong, knocking me over.

I didn't dare to move, hoping that he'd stop now that I was lying on the floor, but he just started to kick even more. I curled up into a small ball trying the best I could to protect myself. I groaned in pain every time he kicked me. The feeling of such helplessness was something that I'd never experienced before and it scared the heck out of me. I had no control of what was going on, for all I knew he might as well kill me.

The beating felt as if it lasted an eternity, but in reality it probably didn't last more than half a minute.

I could hear Mark panting slightly as he finally stopped, my whole body aching. Not daring to do anything that might provoke him I kept as still as I possibly could. It wasn't an easy task as my body shook uncontrollably and I struggled just to breathe normally. The tears burnt behind my eyelids but I forced them back as I kept my eyes closed trying the best I could to ignore the pain that was pulsing through my body.

Mark started to pace back and forth next to me and I silently prayed that he would leave me alone.

"This is not good…"He muttered to himself nervously. "See what you made him do... why would you do that…?" Marks words didn't make any sense to me, but he sounded really upset.

"Now what will she think of me?" he whimpered. Curiosity finally took over and I opened my eyes, forgetting the pain I was in.

He was standing next to me, his whole posture showed insecurity and sadness. I almost didn't recognize him from just a few moments earlier. What was wrong with this guy?

There were tears forming in his eyes and if it hadn't been for the fact that he'd just beaten the crap out of me I would almost feel sorry for him.

"…what will she think…?" he whispered. "…what will she think… I'm so sorry…" The tears had started to fall from his eyes as he shook his head in thoughts. "I'm so sorry!" He exclaimed, making me jump. He must have noticed me moving because his head whipped around, facing me.

"You…" He hissed at me and I instantly froze. "It's all your fault!" The accusation made me both confused and terrified. What did I ever do to him? "You've ruined everything!" He was shouting now, coming towards me. I tried to get up but only managed to push myself a bit further away before he was standing right over me again. The movement hurt so bad I had to bite my lip not to cry out. He looked at me as if I was his prey and I seriously believed that he was going to kill me. My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. I hid my face behind my arms and thought 'this is it'. I would never see my family or friends again. I would never train in the dojo again or skate at the park. Never go to another class in school and I would never see Kim again… I wouldn't be able to tell her how much she meant to me, to tell her I love her. I would never hold her or kiss her…

I felt a couple of rough hands wrap themselves around my wrists, pulling my arms away from my face. A pair of green eyes looked straight into mine, as he kneeled beside me.

"All the pain you've caused." He said bitterly. "I'm gonna make sure you'll pay it all back." He let go of me before standing up. When he was just about to leave through the door he turned to me one last time.

"Just wonder by the way…" He said. "Who's Austin that you were shouting at earlier?"

I didn't answer him.

"…And maybe more importantly, who's Kim that Austin wasn't allowed to touch?" He must have noticed my reaction at the mention of her name, as he smiled satisfying before heading through the door. I heard the door being bolted shut and I was alone once again.

I'd never been so scared in my entire life before and the relief I was feeling when the fear finally let go of its grasp of me made me overwhelmed with emotions. Unable to hold it together anymore I broke down and cried silently into my sleeve. I furiously wiped the tears away, but it just kept coming new ones. The pain was slowly wearing off and my body was starting to get numb. Still not moving, I lay thinking about what had just happened. Mark's unpredictably behavior was freaking me out, not to mention all the weird things he'd said. None of it made any sense… All the talk about Tess was really confusing, as well as all the talking to himself, although the most disturbing thing was the last question he asked… Why did he wanna know who Kim was? If he so much as thought about doing something to her I swear he's gonna regret it. Anger boiled up inside of me and I started to get up into a crawling position, but the pain came back tenfold by the movement and my arms and legs collapsed under me, unable to push through it. I couldn't help but cry out in pain.

As I lay on the ground the feeling of helplessness filled me again and a million thoughts went through my head, but the one that lingered the most was; _what _could I have ever done to Mark, for him to think that I deserved to go through this? And the worst part was that I doubted he was finished… I shuddered at the thought of what he might do, as new tears fell in silence down my cheeks.

It felt as if my whole world had been turned upside down and all because I had to help him with that coin. I should never had finished my soda or I could just have told Kim and Austin that I didn't feel well and they would've helped me and I wouldn't have been that easy for Mark to get.

I was furious with myself for not seeing this coming. After all Mark had been following me around for quite some time just waiting for an opportunity… I couldn't believe I hadn't recognized him from meeting him so many times. Note to myself: From now on, pay attention to the ones you meet…

I looked up at the small window. The sun shined through it and my lack of freedom became very concrete. My thoughts went to my friends. I wondered if they've noticed my absence yet and what they'll do when they realize that I'm gone. I wiped a few more tears away. I wasn't comfortable crying like this, I never do that and it confused me. Frankly everything confused me, the only thing I was sure of was that I needed to get out of here and back to the ones I loved as soon as possible.

* * *

**What did you guys think? Jack had quite a hard time there... **

**The next chapter is in progress...**

**See ya'll soon;)**

**/MJ**


	11. A Missing Piece

**AN: Chapter eleven is here! This is officially my longest story ever:)**

**Thank you Kicklover3000, QueenCupcake101, Maddy and hgirl for all your reviews.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.**

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Chapter 11

**A Missing Piece**

**Kim's pov. **

I rolled over in bed, my eyes adjusting to the light. I hadn't slept well for the past two nights. The thing was that I wasn't really tired when it was time for me to sleep and I've been spending hours tossing around in bed thinking about Jack.

All the worrying had made me emotionally exhausted though and I was more or less acting like a zombie when I was awake.

I glanced at my clock, noticing that it was time for me to get up. I didn't want to go to school today, but my mum would never let me stay at home. I'd already tried to convince her that I was too depressed to go to school yesterday, but she'd insisted of me going.

I had skipped three classes though, without her knowing. I'll probably gonna get detention for that, but right now I couldn't care less. All of them had been classes that Jack also took and I just couldn't stand to see his empty seat.

I reluctantly got out of my bed and started to get dressed. For once I didn't get through my whole wardrobe to choose what to wear. I just picked the cloths that happened to be on the top and were easiest for me to get, not really caring about how I would look.

I brushed through my hair and just let it hang loose, not feeling inspired to do anything with it. What was the point anyway?

Actually nothing seemed to matter anymore. Nothing was like it used to be when Jack was still here. I'd never noticed how much time I use to spend with him or how much he meant to me, until now. All of a sudden there was a huge hole in my every day life.

I made my way downstairs and into the kitchen. My mom was already sitting at the table reading the newspaper. She looked up at me as I took a seat.

"Haven't seen you wear that sweater before." She said. I looked down at my clothes realizing I was wearing the green sweater that my Aunt made for me. The reason why I hadn't worn it before was because I didn't like it.

"It suits you." She smiled as she put the newspaper away. I didn't say anything instead I grabbed the cereal box and started to pour its contents into my deep plate that mom had already set up for me. Mom probably noticed that I wasn't in the mood to chat like we use to do at the table and she tried to sooth me as she said. "I'm sure he will come back. We just have to trust that the police know what they're doing and in the meantime you are not going to act as if your whole life is gone."

I looked at her in silence. Jack was my life and when he disappeared so did my life, but of course mum would never understand that so why bother to discuss it?

And I was going to act like this for as long as I wanted to, especially now when I was mad at her for not letting me stay home. As if she could read my thoughts she said. "Do you really think that Jack would want you to skip school just because of him?"

I couldn't argue with her on that one. Jack would probably insist of me going.

"No…he wouldn't want that." I shook my head as mum gave me a satisfying look knowing that she'd succeeded. "Fine, I'll go to school." I sighed. I don't know how she does it but she always seems to know what to say to make me come around. Sometimes I even think she knows me better than I know myself. There was only one more person in the world who could claim to know me just as good – Jack.

* * *

"I'll pick you up at three and drive you to the dojo. I think that it's ok with Rudy that you'll be there a little earlier than you supposed to." Mum said as she stopped the car outside the school building." I don't get of until eight o'clock, so you're gonna have to wait at the mall if you want a ride home otherwise you'll have to walk."

I had to think of my options for a moment. I had refused to walk alone to school, that's why my mum had started to drive me and walking home from the dojo all by myself seemed just as bad. Actually I didn't want to go to the dojo at all; it wasn't the same without Jack.

"Why can't you just drive me home after school?" I said. "I can skip one practice."

"No, you're gonna go to the dojo. I don't want you to stay home and be miserable, you should be with your friends, besides do you really think that Jack …"

"Fine! I'll go." I said annoyed as I jumped out of the car.

"I'll pick you up at three. Love ya!" Mom hurried to say just before I slammed the car door shut. She waved at me as she drove of and I sighed. This was going to be a long day…

"Hi Kim!." I recognize that cheerful voice anywhere and I smiled as Grace walked up to me. She had been very supportive and understanding and without her I'm not sure that I would have made it through the schooldays at all.

"Any news?" She asked concerned.

I shook my head 'no', dreading that I wouldn't be able to hold it together if I had to speak.

"Don't worry. He'll be back soon." She said softly.

"It's just that…" I had to pull myself together not to flip out or break down as I continued to speak what was on my mind. "…Everybody seems to think that he's ran away, but his not the kind of person that would do anything like that. He never run's from anything."

"You should tell them that." Grace said even though she knew that I already had since we had this conversation before, but being the good friend she was she knew I needed to vent this stuff over and over.

"I have…" I said a little louder than necessary. "…but the officers say that the evidences that he's run of are pretty strong. The last thing anybody saw of him was when he ran of from the courtyard. And they couldn't find anyone's DNA on Jack's phone except Jack's, mine and Mrs Brewer, which points to the fact that Jack must have thrown it away himself and that could only mean that he doesn't want anyone to contact him or find him, which leads to the conclusion that he's left on his own and…"

"Kim, it's okay. Just don't forget to breathe." Grace had taken hold of my shoulders when she noticed me rambling on, just upsetting myself. I sighed and gave her a small nod, trying to ignore the growing lump in my throat. She looked me in the eyes and asked "What do you think happened?" knowing that I was probably going to need to vent that as well.

"I don't know…but I fear that someone has done something to him. Maybe taken him somewhere or he's hurt and unable to get home on his own." Deep down inside of me I feared that Jack wasn't even alive, but I did my best to suppress the thought and told myself that as long as they haven't found his body there was still hope. A hope that I was willing to hang on to until the end of time… "The worst part is not knowing and I'm stuck here unable to do anything to help." I said, my voice cracking slightly.

"Hey, you have helped. You have told the police everything you know and you were the one that found the phone, which turned out to be the strongest clue, the police have to work with." Grace comforting words made me feel better and we started to make our way into the school building.

* * *

The school day was almost over and I had started to relax somewhat, knowing that I only had one class left before I could leave this place and focus on Jack. The idea of getting to the dojo early was more appealing now when I'd had some time to think about it. I would have enough time to go on another search around the mall and just maybe I would find something that we'd overlooked. The thought made me feel calmer and I couldn't wait to get there now.

I had just left my locker with my math books in my hands as a certain dirty blond guy showed up.

"I heard that you Bobby Wasabi warriors have pulled out of the tournament. What's the matter with you guys? Too scared to face us without the mighty Jack?" Frank mocked and my temporarily bright mood quickly changed into anger, although I tried to ignore him and kept walking.

"I knew that Jack was too much of a wimp to fight us when it really mattered. He's probably hiding somewhere waiting for someone to…"

"Just shut it!" He looked at me surprised at my sudden exclamation. "You know nothing…" I inched closer to Frank making him back of. "Yes we've pulled out of the tournament but only because finding Jack is way more important. And Jack's not afraid of you; he's proved that over and over again. As soon as he's back we all gonna meet you in a tournament you will never forget." I said through gritted teeth and he cowered under my glare. I can be pretty scary when I'm angry…

"Are you coming?" Grace walked up to us. "We have like one minute to get to class." She pointed out as I reluctantly turned away from Frank, who walked away, muttering stuff to himself.

"What was that all about?" She asked as we made it through the hallway.

"Nothing important…" I shrugged. "…just Frank being a jerk as usual..."

She seemed satisfied with the answer or she noticed that I wasn't in the mood to talk about it and she remained silent.

* * *

The day had been a real pain so far and I didn't expect the karate practice to be any different. I had searched the mall again just before I got to the dojo without any results. Now I was sitting on one of the benches in the dojo just waiting for this day to be over, for this nightmare to be over…

The dojo looked like it used to do, but the atmosphere was totally different. Jerry and Eddie were sitting next to me watching in silence as Rudy instructed Milton on the mats. A few boards lay scattered on the floor and they would soon be followed by a lot more since Rudy's planed the whole session to be focused on board breaking. That actually suited me pretty well; it felt good to get your frustration out on those boards.

"Okay good, but remember to hit it straight from above." Rudy said.

Milton gave a small nod before raising his hand just to send it back down again with full force. The board broke in pieces that fell to the floor, as we all jumped slightly at the sound. Milton was starting to get really good at this.

My phone started to buzz in my bag that was lying right next to me. I had refused to be any further than three feet away from it in the last days, in case someone would call about Jack. I frantically searched my bag both hoping and dreading that it would be Jack's mum or dad or the police telling me some news about him.

When I finally fished up my phone I was disappointed to see Austin's number on the screen. After a brief moment of debating with myself whether or not I should take it, I answered.

"Hello" I said uncertain, as I stood up and walked to the girls' dressing room, knowing that it would be hard to hear with the boards breaking right next to me.

"Hi Kim, it's me, Austin." Yeah I kinda figured that out when I saw your number, I thought. "I was only wondering if you have any plans on Saturday, now when the tournament is off." He sounded hopeful and I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I also didn't want to hang out with him on Saturday. I knew that he was going to ask that if I didn't make up any other plans like now. I quickly searched through my mind for anything I could use as an excuse.

"Kim, are you still there?"

"Yeah… I'm here. What were we talking about?"

"Do you have any plans on Saturday?" He asked again.

"Oh, Saturday… I think my mum said that we were going to visit my grandpa."

"Oh… ok." He sounded a little hurt and I couldn't help myself but to say. "But maybe we can meet afterwards."

"Yeah that'll be great." I could almost hear him smiling on the other end. "See you then." He said before hanging up.

"See ya…" I let my head fall back in frustration. What had I just gotten myself into?

When I got back out to the dojo again, I noticed everyone staring curiously at me.

"It wasn't about Jack." I stated knowing that they were all waiting for any news. They looked a little disappointed and returned to whatever they were doing.

"I hope he comes back soon." Milton said.

"Yeah, I've been trying to give this to him, but if he doesn't show up soon I'll probably forget to give it to him." Jerry flashed a small piece of paper in his hand.

"What's that?" I asked curiously heading over to him.

"Oh, it's some kind of letter addressed to Jack. I found it in the boys' dressing room." He explained. I snatched the letter from Jerry's hand and unfolded it.

"What does it say?" Eddie wondered.

My eyes traced down the written lines as I read it out laud.

_Hey Jack._

_I don't know if you remember me…_

_We'd met on your last tournament. _

_You know the ginger haired girl with her dad by her side…_

_Anyway, we (me and my dad) have been following your success for the whole season. _

_Don't get me wrong…_

_We're just huge admirers of what you do._

_So my dad owns this company that would be more than happy to sponsor you._

_It's a great opportunity for you (at least that's what I think)._

_Meet me by the bench behind the gym after school._

_Don't tell any of your karate friends about this…_

_Really hope you can make it, Tess._

I looked up at Jerry.

"He's already seen this. He was actually waiting behind the gym for her, but she'd never showed. He told me about it last Friday." I explained.

"Oh ok, then I don't need to worry about it anymore." Jerry shrugged. "Hey, Rudy is it ok if I bring my sister Nelly here on Friday?" He asked." Mum and dad are visiting my uncle, and my brothers and sisters are all out hanging with their friends and Nelly doesn't want to be home alone…"

"Of course she can come." Rudy said.

"Thanks Rudy." Jerry smiled.

Rudy returned the smile before turning to me.

"Ok Kim, you're up." He said pointing to the board that he'd placed on two blocks. I walked up to it and raised my hand…

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**I know that this wasn't a very exciting chapter but it needed to be there so...**

**Please don't forget to review:)**

**/MJ**


	12. Longing for Freedom

**AN/ Hello, got another chapter ready for you guys. Just wanna say thank you to Maddy, hgirl, QueenCupecake101 and . Possible for your reviews, and see you all at the bottom...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

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Chapter 12

**Longing for Freedom **

**Jack's pov.**

I paced back and forth in the small room, dying of boredom and hopelessness. My steps were short and my legs felt like lead due to the awful conditions I've been kept in. I sat down on the bed flinching slightly, my body still sore from Mark's visit three days ago. He hadn't showed up ever since. In fact I hadn't heard or seen anyone or anything except this room for the past days. The lack of noise had made me figured that I probably wasn't in the basement of the mall after all, which added to the list of things that worried me. I still had absolutely no clue of where I was.

At first I had thought that someone would find me or I would figure out a way to get out, but as the days had passed my hopes had slowly faded. I had tried everything; climbing up on the sink to try to break through the window, searched the walls, ceiling and floor for weaknesses, banging and shouting at the door for hours and hours, but to no avail. My only possible escape would be through the door, but someone would have to open it from the outside. Most likely that someone would be Mark, which meant that I would either have to find a way to trick him or fight him. Spending most of my awake time to plan some kind of trap for him without any results, I would probably have to go with the fight option…

I was in a way thankful that he hadn't showed up yet, as it had given me some time to heal, but it also worried me. What if he has no intention of coming back? What if this was his way to make me pay for something that I still had no clue of what it was?

Maybe he was planning on keeping me here until I starve to death. I was already so hungry it hurt, not eating anything for days. My body felt weak and I was tired all the time.

At least I had been able to quench my thirst thanks to the sink tap, which had been the only thing keeping me strong enough to move around my small cell. If it hadn't been for the water I would probably be laying in bed right now, too weak to even sit up.

The worst part though was being so isolated from the outside world, not knowing how they were all doing back home. I wondered if they missed me as much as I missed them.

Mom is probably worried sick by now…and dad... he's more likely to trying to find me in one way or another as he's the problem solver kind of guy. If they've contacted the police, he's probably the one that's checking in on them every now and then. He always wants to have control over things and he's a man of action, a lot like me actually…

I smiled at the thought of them.

My friends back at the dojo were probably also worried, but they would have to concentrate on the tournament on Saturday, especially if I wasn't not gonna make it there…

I shook the thought of spending two more days here out of my head. Of course I wasn't going to be locked up in here until Saturday, I must have found a way out by then.

I wondered if Kim missed me. I liked to think so… Of course she would wonder why I was gone but she had Austin there… I frowned, just thinking his name made my stomach turn.

I should have told Kim how I felt once I had the chance. I remembered mum used to say that I should always be open and tell everyone around me how I felt about them, good or bad, always be honest. She was right of course. The thing was that I hadn't even been honest with myself, as I had locked up my feelings for Kim so deep within my heart terrified that they would show that I'd almost forgotten about them. Not until Austin had showed up did they burst out, filling me with all these strong emotions. I just couldn't stand to see Kim with someone else and to sit here without knowing what was going on between them back home was more than I could take.

Austin wasn't to be trusted. I just knew that. Somehow he would find a way to break Kim's heart and I wasn't going to let that happen.

All the thinking of Kim and Austin seemed to have given me new strength again. I stood up and headed over to the door with determination. There's got to be something, some weakness in this place, I just got to find it.

I had almost made it to the door when I heard footsteps on the other side of it and I stopped dead in my tracks. Knowing that I only had a few seconds before someone would open the door, I had to quickly make up my mind whether I should step back and let them in or I should just bust out through the door the moment it opened, hopefully surprising the person on the other side enough to get away.

I heard the door being unbolted and realized I didn't have anymore time to think. Slightly panicking I jumped at the door too rushed. The door gave away from my pressure and for a moment I thought that I was going to succeed. I was halfway through it when I met the pair of green eyes I had come to fear. The look on Mark's face told me that he hadn't expected me to burst out like this. But his reflexes kicked in as soon as he comprehended what I was trying to do and he threw himself at the door. Unfortunate he was stronger than me and the door came crashing into me, making me stumble backwards. I quickly regained my balance though and charged at it once more. I heard the door being looked again when I was only an inch away from it and I ran into what felt like a solid wall. I banged my fists against it in frustration, knowing that I'd ruined what might have been my only chance to escape. Resting my forehead against the door I sighed. On the other side I could hear Mark moving around.

"What do you want from me?" I asked loud enough so that he would hear, but I was given no answer. Instead he fiddled around with something and I concentrated on the sounds that he made, trying to figure out what he was doing.

"Can you hold that for me Tess?" My head shot up as I heard Marks voice. Was Tess here?

"TESS!" I screamed. "I'm in here!" I started banging on the door again. Hopefully she would hear me… "TESS?!"

All of a sudden the small square-shaped hatch on middle of the door opened exposing Mark's face on the other side.

"You better shut up…!" He hissed. "...or else you're gonna bring _him_ out!" I looked confused at him. What was he talking about?

"Believe me; you do not want him to come…" He said just before slamming the small hatch shut.

"Wait!" I could hear his footsteps walking away. "Don't leave me here!" I cried desperately, even though I knew that it would be useless. "Please…"

The last thing that was heard was another door being closed before silence filled the room. I turned my back against the door and slid to the ground with a deep sigh. Resting my elbows on my knees, I buried my face in my hands, not knowing what to do anymore. I was devastated, truly believing that I was going to spend the rest of my life in this godforsaken place. For the first time since I got here I felt really alone and I was scared that I might never get to see any of my friends and family again. Mark would probably not give me another chance like that again, in fact I doubted that he would ever return.

A tear fell from my eye. I hadn't even noticed that tears had started to form in my eyes and I didn't do anything to stop them. The physical pain that I've been through was nothing compared to the ache in my heart caused by the endless longing for my loved ones and my freedom…

* * *

Just as I had predicted I hadn't seen or heard anything from the outside world the entire day. It was getting darker outside and I was already lying in bed, trying to get some sleep. My stomach was killing me and I tried to find a more comfortable position as I constantly tossed and turned under the blanket. I was just about to finally head off to sleep when the sound of someone approaching my cell reached my ears. Not making the same mistake again, I stayed in bed, waiting for anything to happen. I listened carefully, holding my breath as I kept an eye on the door. It didn't take too long until the hatch in the door opened and two buns were thrown in. They landed on the floor just before the hatch was closed shut again. Not daring to make a sound, I waited in bed a little longer than necessary until I was positive that the person (who I'm pretty sure was Mark) had left.

I then threw the blanket of, shivering slightly as the cold air embraced me. I made my way over to the pieces of bread. Normally I wouldn't eat anything that's been rolling around on the floor, but not having eaten in days made the buns look absolutely delicious. I grabbed one of them and brought it to my mouth, but just before I took the first bite I hesitated. What if this was some kind of trick? What if they were poisoned or something like that? I studied the bun I held in my hand, not sure if I should eat it or not. But my growling stomach made me make up my mind. When I come to think of it there was no reason why Mark would poison me. He was more likely to keep me alive so that he could do to me whatever it was he had planed… I didn't know what he had in store for me and I'm not sure that I would want to know either, although I was pretty sure that _it_ would be something that I wasn't going to like and I would have to prevent_ it_ from happening. And to be able to do that I had to be strong, which meant that I would need to eat...

I quickly finished my meal and I must say I'd never tasted so heavenly delicious buns before. Not that they were anything special, I was just so hungry that no matter what I would be given it would all taste good.

Satisfied I returned to the bed and curled up under the blanket, resting my slightly aching head on the pillow. Even though I felt a little nauseous from filling my empty stomach too fast, I hadn't felt this good in what seemed like ages.

Maybe I was going to survive this and get back to my friends and family after all. The hope that had just sprung to life made me feel a lot better and I fell asleep with a smile on my face, thinking that I would wake up stronger and I was bound to find a way out in the morning. Little did I know that tomorrow would come to be the worst day of my life…

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**That was it...**

**Thanks for reading and please don't forget to review. See y'all:)**

**/MJ**


	13. The Ginger-Haired Girl

**AN/ Hi everyone and thank you so much Dreaming2BAWriter, KyannA, krc93, Dance Star93, hithere102000, '99, Maddy, QueenCupcake101, silverfox45, ABC-Writer, .Possible and Fallen Emo Angel for your reviews. **

**Can't believe I got 12 reviews = new record. So here's the next chapter ready and posted earlier than I thought it would be, thanks to you guys;)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

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Chapter 13

**The ginger-haired girl**

**Kim's pov.**

I kicked a pebble in front of me as we walked towards the mall. Grace shot me a worried glance. She probably didn't know what to say to ease my mind anymore. The fact that it had almost been a week since Jack disappeared made it quite clear that this was more serious than anyone had thought from the beginning, and I had caught myself more than once doubting that he'll ever return.

At least it was Friday, the school was finally over and I was looking forward to the weekend. I hadn't told anyone about it, but I was planning on spending most of the weekend doing some research on my own as I felt the police didn't make any progress soon enough. I had to spend a few hours with Austin tomorrow afternoon though, which could come to interfere with my plans.

The thought of my 'date' with Austin made me throw my head back in frustration, with a deep sigh.

"What?" Grace wondered with both worry and curiosity showing in her voice.

"Nothing…" I shrugged. "It's just that Austin asked me out and I sort of said 'yes'."

"But that's good, right?" She said with an uncertain smile.

"I don't know… I'm not in the mood." I muttered.

She studied me in silence for a moment.

"Don't get me wrong now. I really understand Jack's disappearance is hard for you and that you're worried, but you can't stop living your life just because he's gone." She said and I was struck by how much she resembled my mother. I held back a comment about it though knowing that she meant well. "You could use something to look forward to. Maybe it'll take your mind off of things. Austin seems like a nice guy and he really likes you." She said in a cheerful tone obviously trying to lightning up the conversation. I looked at her. Normally I would be excited about going on a date with an older (and quite good looking) guy, but not now… Grace did understand my worries about Jack, but she didn't know about my feelings for him. In fact no one did and that's how I liked it. I would probably die if someone found out.

"Maybe you're right." I said.

"Of course I'm right!" I couldn't help but smile a little at her confident statement before we entered the mall.

There were people everywhere, just like you would expect on a Friday. We got a couple of smoothies before sitting down at one of the tables in the courtyard outside the dojo, waiting for my practice to begin.

"What are you and Austin gonna do tomorrow?" Grace asked breaking the silence.

"I don't know. He didn't say that we were going to do anything in particular." I said honestly, hoping that she wouldn't ask anything more, since I didn't feel like talking about it.

"Maybe he'll take you out on a romantic dinner or take you down to the beach to watch the sunset." She said with enthusiasm. 'Oh I hope not…' I thought.

Suddenly something big hit the back of my chair making it scoot forward slightly.

"Oh I am so sorry, miss." A man apologized. I turned around to see one of the mall's janitors next to a cart that he must've accidentally driven into me. "Are you alright?" He asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said looking up at him. Man he was tall… He gave me a relieved smile before he left us.

"Weird…" Grace pointed out. I just nodded in agreement as I watched him disappear in the crowd. There was something very familiar about him…

We sat there talking about school and random stuff, carefully not to bring Jack up, as it would destroy the almost joyful moment. Not until it was only five minutes till my karate lesson would begin did we part. Grace left the mall as I hurried of to change into my GIs. Not wanting to be late for practice I had changed my clothes so fast that I was actually the first one out in the dojo ready to start. Milton and Eddie were still in the dressing room and Jerry hadn't even showed yet.

"Hi, Kim." Rudy said as soon as he noticed me. "Can you please help me to move these mats?" He pointed to a pile of mats that was lying right next to him.

"Sure" I said walking over to him. It didn't take long until we were done, just in time for Milton and Eddie emerging from the dressing room.

"Where's Jerry?" Rudy asked concerned, probably worried that he lost another student.

"He's been delayed." Milton explained. "He had to pick his sister up, but he'll be here soon." Rudy seemed satisfied with the answer, but his expression soon changed into a more worried one as his eyes fixed themselves at something by the entrance of the dojo. The rest of us traced his gaze to a tall man in a light blue overall that had just walked into the dojo. It didn't take long for me to recognize him. It was the same man that had driven his cart into my chair earlier.

"Can I help you, sir?" Rudy asked as he approached the janitor.

"Oh I found this outside." The tall man held up a bracelet. "A girl outside told me that it belongs to a girl named Kim. Is that by any chance someone you guys know?" They all turned to look at me, even the janitor. He must've caught that it was me by the way my friends acted.

"I'm Kim." I said feeling that a clarification was still needed though as I walked up to him. He put the bracelet in my hand.

"It's not mine." I stated after studying it closely, returning it back to the janitor.

"Oh sorry, my bad." He excused, his green eyes pierced into mine just a little too long for me to be comfortable with it. "I'll put it in the lost and found box then." He muttered before he left.

"Weird..." Rudy muttered." Okay let's start. Kim, you'll be up against Milton, and Eddie you'll be sparring with Jerry, once he gets here." As if on cue the doors to the dojo flung open as Jerry rushed through them followed by a girly mini copy of himself.

"Sorry I'm late guys…" He took a moment to catch his breath before continuing. "…but Nelly just _had to _get her photos and sticky paper stuff. It took like forever to gather all of her things."

"Well, at least I wasn't the one that forgot my GI back home and managed to get us locked out…" Nelly retarded, as we looked at Jerry with our eyebrows raised.

"Hey, I thought you had the key." Jerry defended. Nelly just looked at him in disbelief shaking her head, making the black curls that framed her pretty face dance in the air, before turning to Rudy.

"Hi, I'm Nelly." She introduced herself, even though we all had figured that out already.

"Nice to meet you." Rudy greeted. "I'm sensei Rudy."

"Is it ok if I work on some of my stuff during Jerry's practice?" She asked.

"Sure, you can use my office if you like." Rudy offered.

"No it's ok. I rather sit on the floor. That way I'll be able to have a better overview of my pictures." Rudy seemed a little surprised by her answer at first.

"Ok you can sit over there if you want, there's no risk of you getting a karate student over you there." He pointed to the small area by the entrance of the dojo.

"That'll be great." She smiled, heading over there with her back pack that held all her stuff.

In the meantime Jerry had hurried of to the dressing room to get changed.

"Ok, let's get back to sparring." Rudy said and gestured for me and Milton to get ready. The lesson went on just like any other day, with the exception that we were missing a member. Everyone tried their best to stay focused on the training though.

Milton and I bowed to each other slightly panting. Even though I still could beat Milton pretty easy I must say that he has improved a lot. Tiered and satisfied with our training we walked off the mats as Jerry and Eddie were up against each other next.

I went over to where Nelly was sitting and placed myself next to her on the floor. There were papers, pictures, pencils and glitter and stuff scattered everywhere around her.

"What are you working on?" I asked curiously. She looked startled at me as she probably hadn't noticed my approach, too busy cutting out a picture of her riding a horse.

"It's for my scrapbook." She explained as she began to glue the photo unto a blue paper. I noticed a book lying beneath a pile of papers.

"May I take a look at it?" I asked.

"Sure." She said, not taking her eyes of the page she was working on. "Some of it is pretty old though and I'm not that pleased with how they turned out to be."  
I grabbed the scrapbook and started to look through the pages. It was pretty good and some of the pictures were really funny. I chuckled a little at a picture of Jerry fighting a goose, at least I think it was him behind a cloud of feathers.

"That was when we were at the petting zoo. The goose at one of his flip-flops…" She explained.

"Poor goose…" I said still giggling.

"The goose came out of it alright." She said. "It was Jerry that needed medical care after…"

I turned the page and I saw something that made me stop laughing. It was a picture of ten girls posing in their soccer uniforms with big smiles across their faces. I figured that they must be a team and one of them I recognized as Nelly. But it wasn't her that had caught my attention at first. It was that somewhat tall, ginger-haired girl on the far left that had caused a funny feeling to stir inside me. It was Tess, the girl who was at Jack's last tournament and the girl who sent him the letter that I still had in my bag. Remembering very clearly the way she had looked at him, I couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy, even though I knew that the possibilities for Jack dating her were almost equal to none. I didn't know that Nelly knew her…

"Are you okay?" Nelly asked concerned. She must have noticed my mood change.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I nodded. "I was just thinking about Jack." I half lied. Well technically I did think of him but more in an indirect kind of way.

"I know what it's like to lose a friend." She said. I looked at her. I haven't thought about it before but she had been through the same thing as I, only worse. Her friend was dead and gone forever, while I still had the hope of reunite with Jack once again.

"I know you miss him every moment of every day and every time you do something fun or boring, or you hear or see something, anything…" She made a pause looking up at me "…you wish that you'd be able to share it with him."

I nodded surprised by her accuracy. That was exactly how I felt.

"You miss Theresa a lot, don't you?" I said.

"Yeah…" The pain was clearly shown in her eyes. "She lived in my neighbourhood and seeing her house almost everyday…" Her voice started to waver. "Sometimes I forget what has happened and expect her to come walking out of her house just like she used to." Nelly tried to smile, but I could see that she had troubles keeping it together. "She was always so kind. When some of us were upset or anything, she always knew how to cheer us up."

"She seemed like a really nice girl." I said. "Do you have a picture of her in here somewhere?" I asked referring to the scrapbook that was lying on my lap. I was curious to see what she looked like, not having seen her before.

"Of course." Nelly said and pointed without hesitation at the ginger-haired girl to the left at the picture I had studied a moment earlier. I looked confused at it.

"But that's Tess." I said.

"Yeah…" Nelly looked at me as if I was stupid. "…Everyone called her Tess, very few knew her real name was Theresa. You knew her?"

"No, yea… I mean no, I've seen her once, but…"

"Are you coming Nelly?" Jerry said making us jerk startled. He was already done and ready to go. I shot a glance at the clock realizing that our karate lesson was as good as over. Had we really been talking for so long?

"Yeah, just give me a sec…" Nelly said as she started to gather her stuff. I stood up and headed to the dressing room. I wanted to talk more but I felt I needed some time to think also. The more I thought about it the more confusing it got. Especially the fact that Jack had gotten a letter from Tess or Theresa whatever you wanna call her last Friday, several days after her death…

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**Since this worked out pretty well, I'm going to repeat it again. Next chapter will be up at the beginning of next week, unless i get 10 or more reviews, then I'll update sooner.**

**And of course, everyone that leaves a review get a sneak peak of the next chapter.**

**/MJ**


	14. Misery

**AN/ Hi I'm back with a new chapter for you guys... Hope you're not too mad that it took so long, but I had to rewrite some of the parts to make it as good as possible. I've gotta warn you though, this chapter has a little darker theme and I actually felt a little bad for Jack as I wrote it... but this was the way the story was planned to be so... I hope you like it.**

**Thank you for your reviews Dreamin2BAWriter, QueenCupcake101, RazMaster, DanceStar93, Maddy, 10pandarule10, hgirl, FallingSkiesxxxHalMason, IHopeYouDance101 and SenciblyEccentricity.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

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Chapter 14

**Misery**

**Jack's Pov.**  
I fluttered my eyes opened, a horrible ache pounding through my head. I recognized the feeling of the drug lingering in my body all too well, instantly regretting eating the buns last night. I couldn't believe I fell for it again. I should've listened to my intuition and not eaten them. I took a glance out the small window to get a hang of what time of day it was. The sun was up which meant that I had been asleep through the whole night. Groaning slightly I pulled my left arm out from under the blanket and brought it to in front of me to take a look at my watch. It said 10.35.

With a sigh I let my hand fall down next to me again. The drug had made the sourness in my body temporarily go away, but in returned it had left me with this massive headache, making me feel as if my head was ready to explode any second.

I didn't bother to try to move. What was the point, really? At least the bed was more comfortable than the floor…

The sound of something heavy hitting the floor came from the other side of the door. I tensed up, almost forgetting to breathe as I listen carefully. Someone or should I say Mark who it most likely was, was definitely fiddling around with something outside this room. I shot a nervous glance at the door praying it wouldn't open. Several minutes past without anything happening, the sounds continued though. Maybe he wouldn't bother to come in after all. I let myself relax a little, still listening.

Suddenly I heard the door being unbolted. I closed my eyes and pulled the blanket up to cover most of my face, knowing that my fears would be realized. Why did he have to come now when I was in this vulnerable state?

The door swung opened and heavy footsteps approached me.

"Enjoyed your night?" Mark voice said right next to me. I didn't reply still keeping my eyes closed.

"You know, Tess has been nagging me all morning about seeing those beautiful brown eyes of yours." He said the last words in a high voice, imitating Tess. "So you might as well open them."

I did so as I was curios to see if Tess was really there. So far I hadn't seen a glimpse of her. But the only thing I saw was Mark's satisfying face smiling down at me.

"There we go." He said. "I take it that you're listening… You probably wonder why I drugged you again." He started to casually walk back and forth next to me. "…but you gave me no choice. This is the only way I'll be able to talk to you without you attacking me."

I frowned. I'd never attacked him. The way I remembered it he attacked me… Of course I didn't trust him enough to stay and have a chat with him after that, but if he had acted differently from the beginning I would have listen…

Mark had stopped pacing and his back was now facing me as he looked at the sky through the small window. I took a longing glance at the door. It was closed but not locked as that only could be done from the outside and Mark was in here. Debating with myself whether I should make a run for it or not I adjusted to a more comfortable position. The bed creaked beneath me and Mark must have heard it.

"Don't even think about it." He said calmly still not looking at me.

He was probably right. I would never make it, since even the slightest movement sent new painful chocks trough my head and my body felt weaker than ever. I sighed in frustration.

Mark chuckled to himself. I'd never seen him in such a bright mood before and it made me feel a little safer and I brought up the courage to ask him something that's been on my mind for days.

"What do you want from me?" I asked. He immediately focused his green eyes on me, watching me in silence for a moment. I tensed, afraid that I might had provoked him by speaking. To my surprise though, he burst out laughing.

"I knew you weren't too bright, but that's just priceless…" His whole body shook with laughter. Holding back a comment about the insult knowing that it would probably cause me more trouble than it would do any good, I watched him carefully. The sudden and seemingly uncontrolled laughter scared me. Frankly I didn't know which Mark frightened me the most, the angry one or the insanely laughing one…

"You hear that Tess?" He said in between chuckles. His talking over my head with Tess was really starting to annoy me and I couldn't keep my mouth shut anymore.

"Tess is not here." I pointed out. Mark immediately stopped laughing as a light flickered in his eyes. I regretted that I ever opened my mouth as he leaned in closer to me until his face was only inches away from mine, resting his hands on his knees.

"Oh, so you've noticed that, smartass." He said seriously. "One piece of advice… _never _tell Mark that. He can't handle it." I looked at him confused. Why was he talking about himself in a third person?

He got even closer, so close that I could feel his breath on my face. The crazy look in his eyes petrified me and I didn't dare to breathe.

"I have figured out your weak point long ago…" He whispered as he took hold of the blanket pulling it away from my face and upper torso, which made me feel uncomfortably exposed. "Mark just doesn't listen to me." What the heck was he talking about? He must have noticed my puzzled expression. "Mark doesn't have too high thoughts about me but he needs me none the less". He explained.

"What are you talking about?" I asked feeling really intimidated by his unstable behaviour and the fact that he was so close to me.

"I'm talking about Mark always ignoring my ideas even though he knows I'm the smart one…" His voice got louder. I looked at him sceptically. "...but he's gonna be happy when he finds out what I've done for him." The more Mark (or whoever he was) talked the more it became clear to me that he must have some kind of mental illness. He most likely suffered from a split personality… but he could also just be messing with me…

"Who are you?" I asked quietly afraid to speak any louder.

"I'm Alan." By the sincere way he'd answered my question I was now positive that he seriously thought he was another person, or another person talked through him, I don't know exactly how it works... I didn't feel any better or safer after figuring that out though, on the contrary I didn't now how far he was capable of going. He's already proven more than once that he can't be trusted.

"As to your weakness…" He began. I wasn't sure I had a weakness but I still dreaded that he would do something horrible to me. I swallowed.

"What do you mean?" I did my best to keep my voice from trembling too much.

"I was at the mall yesterday and met a girl your age. I don't know if you know her…kind of pretty, blond. I believe her name was Kim..." My eyes went wide and my heart almost stopped. He smiled at my reaction. "See I told you I had you figured out... who knows, maybe I'll invite her for a little fun." Fear and anger boiled up inside of me.

"You stay away from her!" I practically yelled at him, making him flinch slightly. "It's me you want, not her!" I was on the verge of hysteria. "Why can't you just tell me what I've done and maybe I can make it up to you. I'll do anything just leave Kim alone!" It was true, I was desperate enough to do just about anything, he would only have to name it. If he'll do something to Kim I honestly don't know what I'll do. Mark (or Alan) shook his head and in his eyes there were traces of pain.

"You can never make it right." He said bitterly. "No one can… But justice will and must prevail. An eye for an eye…" My heart skipped a beat. "…a heart for a heart." He continued. It took me a moment to realize where this was going. "You broke his heart…" I searched my memory for the moment that I apparently hurt Mark, but to no avail. I'd never even seen him before the tournament. "…and the best way to break your heart…" he continued. "…is to break Kim's hea…" He never got the chance to finish before I snapped. I launched myself at him with all the force that I could possible throw. Mark didn't see it coming and was knocked over. He kicked at me furiously as I lay on top of him trying to hold him down. I did my best, but my body was so weak that I didn't recognize it. Mark was stronger and he managed to get one of his hands to the back of my head. Taking hold of my hair he pulled my head back. I flinched in pain making the mistake to reach for his hand that was intertwined with my hair, leaving Mark enough space and time to punch me in the stomach with his free hand. The blow knocked the breath out of me and made me fall off of him. Mark was up and over me in no time, pinning me to the ground. He raised his right fist and I closed my eyes just before it came crashing down my face, forcing my head to turn to the side. The whole left side of my face including my nose turned numb before the pain started to grow into almost unbearable proportions. The headache had increased again and my eyes began to water from fear, pain and anger.

"Look at me, kid." Mark snarled as he grabbed my shoulders and shook me sending new waves of pain through my head. I turned my head and looked at him through the tears that now flooded my eyes. His face was a blur to me, but I could tell that his eyes were full of madness.

"Please…" I pleaded. I was neither physical nor emotional fit to go through this right now.

"Why should I show you any mercy?" He hissed as he stood up. "You only get what you deserve." He brushed his clothes of. I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but I knew better than to ask.

Warm liquid traced down from my nose to my upper lip, leaving a metallic taste on it. I dried my nose with the back of my hand very carefully, not sure if it had started to bleed or was just runny from the crying. The pain that the touch caused and the bright red colour that stained the back of my hand gave me the answer though.

"You brought this upon yourself, you know." He said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to the bed, placing me parallel with it. I moaned in pain as my body was dragged across the floor.

Mark placed himself above me, standing with one leg on either side of my trembling form. He let go of my arm and I instantly curled up hugging myself. I felt so vulnerable and helpless. I closed my eyes letting another tear slip through my eyelids, wishing that this was all just a nightmare and I would wake up in my own bed soon. Of course the pain was too deep to not be real though. I glanced up at Mark who just had brought out a few pieces of plastic straps. He leaned down and took hold of my right wrist. On a closer look I saw that the things that were in his hand were zip ties. The ones that you can't open once they've been closed, unless they're cut. Realizing what he was trying to do I pulled back but his grip only became tighter.

"Please don't…" I tried to get him to release his grip with my free hand, pulling on his fingers to pry them open. I panicked when he wouldn't let go and started to twist and turn furiously to get away from him. Mark sat down on me preventing me from escaping. The more I struggled the more he pushed down and pretty soon we were in a fight, wrestling one another. He was strong and I panicked when I realized that he was going to win. My heart raced and the lump in my throat was so big now that I almost choked on it. He managed to get a zip tie around my right wrist and tightened it, which made me struggle even harder. Eventually he lost his patience and backhanded me across the face leaving a burning mark on it. The hit had surprised me and something happened there. My body went limp and I did something I've never done before – I gave up, knowing that this was a fight I couldn't win. I breathed heavily as fresh tears fell from my eyes. Every muscle in my body shook from exhaustion. Mark brought my hand to the bed and fastened it with another zip tie that went through the one I had on my wrist already, to one of the vertical bars that made the headboard. There were beads of sweat showing on his forehead and his hands trembled as he fumbled around with the ties. "You stupid, stupid boy…" He mumbled before standing up. Maybe he was right. Maybe I was stupid to aggravate him and all the pain I was in was all my fault. I curled up into a fetal position facing the bed, wiping away the tears carefully with my free hand as the other hung a couple of feet above the floor. Mark made it over to the door.

"Please don't hurt Kim." I sniffled my voice barely louder than a whisper.

Mark froze for a moment but didn't give me any answer; instead he walked out and slammed the door shut making me jump. His footsteps disappeared in the distance and I was left completely alone once again. Realizing that all hope was gone my silent tears grew into laud, deep sobs, resting my swollen cheek against the cool floor. I regretted ever talking to Mark let alone jump him. I had tried to defend Kim and prevent him from doing anything to her, but by doing so I had probably put her in even more danger. I would never be able to forgive myself for that. Twisting my hand, I tugged against the ties trying to free myself. The fact that it didn't work made me let out yet another sob. I hated this…

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I lay on the floor for hours. The tears eventually stopped and my body wasn't shaking anymore. The plastic band had started to dig into my skin and I couldn't feel my arm anymore as it hung in the air. Deciding that I probably do better by changing position I sat up very slowly, flinching now and then as my movements caused my bruised body to ache. Once I was sitting up I rested my chest against the bed as I took a closer look at the thing restraining me. I tried to open the zip tie even though I knew that it wouldn't work. It kept me occupied for a while though since I didn't really have anything else to do.

The dark had started to fall, which meant that I had been here for yet another day. I wondered how many more I could take, before I went mad or died...

Suddenly I heard faint voices talking in the distance. At first I thought that I imagined them but as they grew a little stronger I realized they were real.

"HELP ME!" I yelled without a second thought, knowing this might be my only chance. "PLEASE! ANYBODY HELP!" I went quiet for a moment listening. The voices had stopped talking and I sighed disappointed, believing they left. But soon I heard someone moving in the room next to mine. "I'm in here! Please hel…" my voice died out as I hesitated. What if it was Mark on the other side? The noise of the door being unbolted filled the room and soon after it opened slowly. I didn't dare to look up at first, but when I did I think my heart skipped a beat at what I saw…

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**There you have it. **

**I don't know when I'm going to be able to put the next chapter up but I'm going to do it ASAP. Of course your reviews will speed up my writing;)**

**All who reviews also gets a sneak peak of the next chapter:)**

**/MJ**


	15. The House of the Greene Family

**AN/ HI EVERYBODY! **

**First of all I wanna say, WOW I got 20 reviews on my last chapter! I'd never expected to get so many positive reactions. You guys are awesome.**

**A special shout-out to FallingSkiesxxxHalMason, Dreaming2BAWriter, KyannM, Dance Star93, Guest, QueenCupcake101, krc93, hgirl, 1379, IHopeYouDance101, Maddy, '99, Acfprincess, TheLittleStupiedThingsofLife , TwinkleRose, A Fan, LiV3-Lau9h-LOv3, Julia, LeoLover3 and Guest**

**You're part of the reason why I worked extra hard on this one. The chapter was done like two days ago, but I decided to add some more which makes this the longest chapter yet and I think you're really gonna like it...**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KICKIN IT.**

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Chapter 15

**The House of the Greene Family**

**Kim's Pov. **

I stuffed my GI into my bag before leaving the dressing room. Everyone had left except for Eddie who was on his way into Rudy's office.

"I'm just gonna tell Rudy that I'm not gonna be here next week." He explained when he saw my questioning look. "We're gonna go and see my uncle before Austin leaves."

"Ok, see you in two weeks then." I gave him a smile before he disappeared into Rudy's office.

As I reached the door that led out to the mall I saw something on the floor in the corner of my eye. It was Nelly's pair of scissors. She must have forgotten it in the rush to leave. I took it and put it in my pocket. I could give it to Jerry later... but on a second thought though, I might as well give it to Nelly myself on Monday, since there's a chance that Jerry forget to give it to her…

I left the dojo, my head full of thoughts about Tess. There was something really weird about her. I clutched the letter I had in my pocket. Jack had told me that he gotten it last Friday and that could only mean one of two things, either Tess was still alive or someone else wrote it in her name. None of them made any sense and both options left me with more questions than answers.

Why would everyone think she's dead when apparently she isn't? Did she fake her own death? In that case – why? Did she do it by herself or were there someone else that made her do it? Either way, it was pretty stupid by Tess or whoever came up with the brilliant idea of everyone believing she was dead, to send a letter in her name revealing that she was still alive…

_Or_ maybe she really was dead and someone faked the letter. But who would do something like that and why?

All the confusion made me even more curios to find out who this Tess truly was. She lives or lived (not sure…) near Jerry's house and his house wasn't that far… Maybe I could take a quick walk down his block and have a look around. The evening was still young and I would have a couple of hours until it gets really dark. I had nothing else to do anyway…

There wasn't any proof or signs that pointed to the fact that Tess had anything to do with Jack, still I felt the need to check on her. Something in my guts told me that she somehow would bring me closer to finding him. Strange, huh?

"Hi Kim!" I snapped back to reality as a tall Afro-American guy waved at me.

"Hi" I put on a forced smile, not in the mood of talking to anyone at the moment and least of all Austin. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to pick up Eddie." He replied. "Hey, about tomorrow…"

"Yeah…?" I crossed my fingers hoping that he had gotten something else to do and had to cancel our date.

"Would you like to go to that Asian restaurant down by the car wash?"

"Sure." I said, having a hard time not to show how disappointed I was that our date was still on. How sad is that?

"Is everything alright?" He asked concerned as I obviously didn't cover up my feelings well enough…

"Yeah, everything is fine." I said sounding as bright and happy as I could. "I just need to get going…" I walked past him in a hurry, so that he wouldn't have the time to ask anything more. "See ya!" I shouted over my shoulder.

"Bye!" I heard Austin called as I headed of in the direction of the Martinez Family.

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It only took me about twenty minutes to get there. I looked at the houses that were lined up on each side of the street. The second house on the left was Jerry's, but I had no idea which house belonged to Tess. I could always ask Nelly, but then again, I didn't want anyone to know I was here. Walking down the block I looked at the houses. Maybe I could figure it out on my own…

I started to go through them one by one, searching for things that pointed to Tess possibly living there. Luckily some of the houses had signs on them with the family name on it. Remembering her last name was Greene, I quickly sorted out the ones that had another name written upon them. There were a couple of children playing in the front yard at one place and an old lady watering some plants on her porch at another, making both of them highly unlikely to be Tess's home. After only a couple of minutes I was left with about four possible choices.

A car drove by me from behind and parked in the front of the garage to one of the properties that I still hadn't been able to tell if it was Tess's home or not. A tall man jumped out of the car and made it over to the front porch. I was a little too far away to see his face, at least in the twilight. I walked closer, mainly because that was the way I was heading anyway. The man fumbled around with the keys for a while. By the time he found them and opened the door I had almost reached the house.

"Tess, I'm home!" He shouted before closing the door behind him. I stopped and looked at the building. I had actually found it and it had been easier than I thought. A feeling of uncertainty went through me. All of a sudden I didn't feel too good about being here. What was I supposed to do if I met her? _'Hey, I thought you were dead, but then you sent a letter to Jack so now I'm here to check and see if you're still alive._' I shook my head, no I couldn't say that…

Tess was obviously alive; I could tell by the way the man that most likely was her father had called her name. I hadn't realized that while I was thinking about what to do I had moved closer to the house and I was now almost at the porch. The house had a light greyish colour and it wasn't that big although it had two floors and possibly even a basement.

I have absolutely no clue why I didn't leave. I had gotten my answer. Tess was alive. So why did I feel the need to knock on the door? Maybe it was because of all the questions about the fake accident or maybe it was to keep my mind occupied from thinking about Jack…

I walked up to the door, gathering myself. I was nervous, which was kind of silly. Nothing would happen more than me finding out the truth about Tess. After some hesitation I knocked on the door. It took just a second or two before I heard someone approaching from the inside. The door opened and to my surprise I was greeted by the same man that I've already met twice today. He looked puzzled at me, not expecting a fourteen year old girl standing outside his door on a Friday night.

"Hi, I'm Kim." I said as I shook his hand. "Maybe you recognize me. We met earlier today at the mall." His expression changed into a more welcoming one as he recalled me.

"Yeah I remember you." He smiled. "Sorry for bumping you with my cart and for interrupting your training." He chuckled a little and I joined him at the thought of the incidents. "What brings you around, Kim?" He wondered.

"I was just wondering if Tess is here." I blurted out. It probably wasn't the smoothest way to bring her up, but it was the first thing that popped up in my head.

"Yeah she's here, but she's taking a shower. She'll be done in a moment though." He explained. "C'mon in." He stepped aside as a gesture for me to go in. Not wanting to be rude and due to the fact that it was getting both dark and chilly outside I entered the house.

"I'm Mark by the way. Tess's father." He introduced himself as he closed the door behind us. "Do you want some coffee? I was just about to have some myself." He offered.

"No thanks, I'm fine." I said as I followed Mark into the kitchen.

"Would you like anything else? We've got tea, lemonade, mi…"

"Just plain water will do." I said sitting down at the kitchen table, while Mark brought out a glass and started to fill it with fresh, cold water.

"So you're good at karate." He stated. I gave him a confused look. "I noticed your black belt." He explained.

"Yeah…" I smiled shyly. "I'm trying to do my best…"

"How long you've been training?" He put the glass in front of me.

"For seven years now." I answered before taking a zip from my drink.

"That's quite some time." He looked and sounded impressed and I couldn't help but feel a little flattered. "You must be the best in your dojo, then."

There was a brief moment of silence before I answered.

"Not really. Jack's better…" I focused on the glass I held in my hand. It's crazy how much you can miss a person. Just by thinking his name let alone say it makes me wanna break down and cry.

"You ok?" Mark asked concerned.

"Yeah." I put on a smile looking up at him again. "I'm fine."

Suddenly a melody started to chime. Both Mark and I turned in the direction of the phone that was lying on the table. Mark grabbed it quickly and looked at the screen.

"Will you excuse me, I gotta take this." Mark said and I gave him a nod. I didn't really mind. "Hello…" He answered the phone as he walked out to the hallway again, leaving me alone at the table. I could still hear him though. "Hmm…yeah…" He sounded a little concerned. "Can't it wait?" I listened carefully as there wasn't much else to do anyway. "Alright." Mark sighed "I'll be there." He hung up before he almost shouted to me "I've gotta go. It's an emergency." I could hear him fumbling around in the hallway, putting on his shoes and jacket. "You can wait here. Tess will be down in a minute, bye!"

"Bye!" I called back just before he slammed the door shut. Well that was weird… Debating with myself whether I should leave or not, I suddenly heard someone shouting, or at least I think it was a person making the noise. I couldn't make out any words though.

"Tess?" I called as I rose from the chair.

The sounds came again and I was now pretty sure that someone indeed was yelling. I traced the sound back to the hallway. There was a door on the opposite wall as the opening to the kitchen. It had definitely sounded like the screams came from there. Now, I know that it isn't polite to sneak around in other people's houses, but it sounded as if whoever was shouting really needed help, besides I've always been too curios for my own good…

I took a quick glance at the stairway that led to the second floor. It didn't seem as Tess would come back any time soon. I opened the door, cautious not to make any noise. Peaking on the other side of it I discovered a wooden staircase that led to the basement. I quickly went through the door closing it behind me. It was pretty dark and I had to be careful not to trip as I made my way down to the underground room. I tried to be as silent as I could, barely even breathing. What was wrong with me? I shouldn't be here sneaking around the basement at the Greene Family's. The thoughts about what I was doing and the worry of getting caught caused me to miss to see a bucket that stood on the floor next to the staircase and I accidentally walked into it, knocking it over. I almost gave myself a heart attack by the sound that it made and I quickly bent down to put it back up again.

"I'm in here! Please hel…" I froze instantly recognizing the voice. Could it be…? No it couldn't… right? The voice had come from behind the metal door that I hadn't noticed at first since it was hidden behind the stairs. When I was closer to it I noticed that there was no normal lock on it, but a giant metal bolt, which I needed to use all my strength on, sliding it sideways to unlock the door. Once the bolt was removed I let the door slowly open, not sure that I really wanted to know what was behind it.

The room on the other side was completely made out of concrete except for a small window up by the ceiling. There weren't much furniture, just a sink, a toilet bowl and a bed. But none of those things caught my attention, but a boy sitting on the floor next to the bed, resting his arms on it. I instantly recognized the shaggy brown hair and I sighed in relief. I had finally found my Jack and he was still alive. A wave of joy washed over me, expecting him to flash his cheeky grin and saying something that would both annoy and amuse me just like he uses to.

But he kept his gaze on the mattress though, as he probably hadn't noticed me yet. I opened my mouth to say something, but when Jack turned his head slightly and looked me in the eyes, I lost my voice, my heart sinking to the bottom of my chest. The usually so bright and spirited eyes were now filled with pain and sorrow. He looked pale and tired. There were patches of dry blood under his nose and his left cheek was slightly bruised. He was still beautiful to me though.

The joy I'd felt just seconds earlier was now replaced with worry, anger and fear as I realized that he'd been locked up in this small unpleasant room, all this time. And as if that wasn't bad enough they've beaten him too. A lump in my throat started to grow. What kind of sick person would do something like that?

"Jack…?" I whispered as if speaking too loud would break him. He just looked so fragile. Jack tensed and turned towards me, still keeping his right arm on the bed. I approached him, hesitating slightly. The boy before my eyes was Jack, I was positive on that, but still I couldn't help but feel as if I was walking up to a total stranger. I'd never seen him like this before and it worried me. What if he wasn't the same anymore?

Jack kept eye contact with me without saying a word. It almost looked as if it was hard for him to believe that I was really there. As I got closer to him I noticed dry tear streaks down his cheeks, making the lump in my throat to increase. My playful, strong and brave Jack had been crying. The thought of what he must've been through made me feel sick. I kneeled down beside him, not being able to fight the urge to touch him. I carefully caressed his cheek and he immediately leant into my touch, closing his eyes quite hard causing his forehead to wrinkle slightly. He put his hand on the top of mine pressing it against his face. A bunch of butterflies came to life in my stomach at the intimate act. I knew that he didn't mean it like that though as he was probably just longing for someone to show him some compassion and love since this place obviously hadn't given him any of that.

"Are you ok, Jack?" I asked softly, my voice full of worry. I know that the answer was pretty obvious, but I still felt the need to ask, although I dreaded the answer.

He opened his eyes and looked at me, still resting his head in my hand as I waited anxiously for him to say something, hating the silence he had maintained so far. He inhaled and opened his mouth slightly as if he was about to say something. But no words would come out, instead his lower lip started to tremble and the deep, brown orbs of his started to water. He quickly looked down, letting out a shaky breath.

"I…" He started, his voice cracking. "I'm…" He swallowed as his gaze flickered around avoiding eye contact . The muscles around his jaw started twitching slightly as he struggled to hold it together, his eyes dangerously close of being flooded. "…I don't…" He whimpered turning his head down again. Not being able to watch him anymore I pulled him into a hug. He put his left arm up and across my back and grabbed the back of my sweater, holding on to it as if his life depended on it, almost choking me in the process. I didn't care though I just held him tightly in my arms. He buried his face in my shoulder letting go of the emotions that's been building up inside of him.

"It's ok, I've got you…" I said softly, trying to keep my voice from shaking. His behaviour was scaring me. What could he possibly been through, that made him break down like this? Rubbing his back gently I bit my lip to prevent myself from breaking down and cry as well. Despite my struggles, a few lonely tears still managed to find their way out. "It's ok." I whispered, not really believing my own words. Of course it was not ok. He's been held against his will, beaten and who knows what more…

I rocked him gently back and forth, his breath coming out irregularly as he sobbed quietly into my shoulder, soaking my shirt. Stroking the back of his head I entwined my fingers in his hair. I know that he only wanted this closeness because of the dreadful circumstances, but it felt absolutely right to have his warm body so close to mine. Resting my head in the crock of his neck I inhaled. Even though he probably hadn't showered for days he still smelled good. He smelled like Jack. God I've missed him.

"You have to leave." Jack's weak voice startled me as I hadn't expected him to speak and it took me a moment to comprehend what he'd said.

"Not without you." I shook my head as I tightened my embrace. I wasn't gonna let go of him now when I finally had found him.

"You have to." He sniffled. Even though he told me to leave, he still clung to me like there was no tomorrow. I knew that he really didn't want to be left alone here again. Who would? "Please go…" His words were slightly muffled as he was talking into my shoulder.

"Not gonna happen." I said. Jack let out quite a deep sob causing his whole body to shake at my words. I don't know if it was from the relief that I wasn't going to leave him or if it was from the fear of what might happen if I'd stay. I didn't really care though, I just held on tight to him afraid that he might fall into pieces if I'd let go. The lump in my throat was now so big that it hurt. I hated to see him like this.

"Please…" his voice trembled. "…before he comes back." I frowned, was it Mark that he was talking about? I'd completely forgotten about him. Reluctantly I pulled away from him, but only enough so that I could look him in the eyes, as he still refused to let go of my shirt. His brown polls were puffy and filled with pain and worry. I wiped carefully away a few tears that lingered on his cheek with my fingertips, my other arm still around his neck.

"Did Mark do this to you?" I asked, trying to suppress the anger that had now started to grow in me. Jack just gave me a barely noticeable nod, breaking the eye contact by looking towards the bed. I automatically followed his gaze and my eyes fell upon Jack's right arm that he'd been resting on the bed the entire time. I gasped noticing the ties that secured his wrist to the headboard, causing red marks to appear on his skin around it.

"Oh, Jack…" I said my voice barely louder than a whisper. "What have they done to you?"

"Please Kim, you've gotta go." Jack tried to reason. "Go and get help before it's too late."

I kept my eyes at the zip ties not really paying any attention to what he said.

"Kim…?" He sniffled, with worry and fear in his voice. "Please…" He gave me a confused look, as I started to dig in my pockets. "Kim…?"

It didn't take long until I found what I was looking for. I pulled the scissors that belonged to Nelly out of my pocket. Was that destiny or just good luck that I happened to have them in my pocket at that moment? I don't know, I was just grateful that I had it.

Not wasting any time I brought the scissors to the ties. Jack flinched slightly as I forced one of the blades in between the zip tie and his sore skin. It was a little harder than I thought it would be to cut it, but in a matter of seconds he was free though. He pulled his arm back rubbing the skin around his wrist. It looked like it hurt quite a bit. I put the scissors back down in my pocket and stood up, holding my hand out for him. He took it and soon he was on his feet. I had to hold on to him though, to prevent him from falling as he felt very unstable.

"It's okay." He reassured when he noticed my worried look. "Lets get out of here."

"Not so fast…" A deep voice came from behind me. Jack's eyes widened in fear and he quickly pulled me into his arms as he spun around, placing himself between me and the man that the voice belonged to. The look on Jack's face had frightened me and it was with great uncertainty that I took a quick peak over his shoulder. The sight that met me, made me tightening my grip around Jack, as I began to realize how much danger I had put us both in by coming here...

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**I know I left you hanging again, but this was the way I had planned it to be since long ago. Just because Kim found Jack doesn't mean this story is soon over btw, there's still a lot more... (unless you'd like it to end sooner. I think I can shorten it.)**

**Anyway hope you liked it. Now I'm gonna need to go and work on the next chapter...**

**See ya! And don't forget to review. You'll get a sneak peek if you do;)**

**/MJ**


	16. The Breaking of my Heart

**AN/HI... please don't be too mad at me for taking so long to update... I've been on a vacation and I thought that I would be able to post a chapter before I left, but it didn't really turn out that way...**

**Anyway... I like to say thank you sooo much hgirl, secrets xx, KyannA, QueenCupcake101, krc93, 10pandasrule10, FallingSkiesxxxHalMason, Camarone14, jojothefanofPJ, hithere102000, Guest 1, Guest 2, Dance Star 93, StripedFuzzySocks, Dreaming2BAWriter, TeddyBear89, Kattniss, eresmialegri, Guest 3, RazMaster, shadowwolf547, Guest 4, popie92, IHopeYouDance101 for all your reviews. I've got 25 reviews on the last chapter! You guys are so amazing.**

**There were many of you who wanted me to keep the story long and none of you that wanted me to shorten it, therefore I'm gonna write and write and write and make it as long as it was supposed to be from the beginning.**

**This chapter was pretty hard to write and I had to work on it a lot, but I think it turned out alright. I don't know if you remember, but in the end of chapter 12 Jack says that this day would come to be the worst day in his life...So ****buckle up and prepare yourself for the longest (3 x as long as most of the other chapters) and probably the darkest chapter of the entire story...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own kickin it.**

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Chapter 16

**The Breaking of my Heart **

**Jack's pov.**

When I saw that blond-haired, cheeky grinned girl of my dreams standing in my cell I was speechless, finding it hard to believe my eyes. I hadn't known what to feel. I was torn inside, as my biggest wish was to keep Kim out of this and just for her to stay as far away as possible from me and this place. But I also fully craved to be in her arms. I needed her, I really did.

The feelings only grew bigger when she'd embraced me. I was the happiest I've been in what seemed like ages, but I've also never been so afraid and worried before. If something happens to her I honestly don't know what I'll do.

I had begged her to leave, but she had refused which I was both upset and grateful for. When she had freed me I had felt a little better, believing for a moment that this nightmare would be over and I would finally be able to go home. But all my hopes had blown away just as quick as I had heard Mark's deep voice.

"Not so fast…" he had warned, standing in the doorway aiming a shotgun at us. As on reflex I had taken hold of Kim, wrapping my arms around her, spinning us around, trying to get her as far away as possible from Mark.

Here we stood now, holding on to each other. 'Not Kim, not Kim, please anything but her' I prayed inside of my head, terrified of losing her. Feeling her arms tighten around me, the same feeling of hopelessness that I've grown so familiar with over the past days filled me again. She depended on me and I couldn't save her, not this time. I wasn't strong enough to fight him or fast enough. Not physically nor emotionally. I searched desperately my mind for any solution that would get Kim out of here safely…

Maybe there was one way after all…

Letting go of Kim, I slowly turned around, ignoring her attempts to hold on to me. I cautiously kept Kim behind me, as I came face to face with Mark. He looked uncertain and the shotgun was shaking slightly in his hands.

"Don't move!" He exclaimed, making Kim grab hold of my arm. The thought about what I was about to do to her hurt, but if it meant saving her life I was willing to go through with it. I looked at the weapon that was pointing at us. It was loaded with two shells, right? With any luck I would be able to take both for Kim and she would have a chance to get away.

I tried to inch closer to Mark but Kim held me back.

"Jack, don't…" She pleaded, the fear in her voice made it straight to my heart. It was like she knew what I was about to do even though I didn't think that was possible. Knowing that my plan wouldn't work as long as Kim clung to me I tried to reason with the man threatening us, hoping to buy us some more time.

"Mark…?" I started, pretty sure it was him since Alan most likely would have pulled the trigger already.

"Stay where you are!" He warned nervously. I could see the panic in his eyes and I feared that he might fire the gun by accident. He shakily started to dig in his back pockets, balancing the firearm in his other hand still aiming it at us.

"Please…" I tried again. "Do whatever you want with me, just let Kim go." I tried to keep my voice as calm as possible, not wanting to stress him to change into Alan. If that happens, we would probably not stand a chance.

"Mark, please…" He didn't show any sign of listening to what I said although he kept his eyes fixed on me, struggling to get something out of his back pocket which seemed to have stuck. "Would Tess approve of you doing this?"

"She approves of me keeping you from running away, yes…" He said simply as he finally managed to get what looked like a bunch of handcuffs all tangled up out of his pocket. He threw them towards us. Both Kim and I watched them as the skidded to a halt right in front of us. Oh no… if he was about to do what I thought he was going to, my plans of getting Kim out of here would fail.

"Hey Blondie." Mark snarled making Both of our heads shot up. I frowned knowing that Kim didn't like to be called that and she most likely would have commented on it in a different situation. I was thankful that she remained silent though, knowing how unpredictable Mark could be.

"Leave her out of this." I begged as I pushed Kim behind me. My heartbeat had increased its speed and I had started to sweat slightly. "Please." He ignored my pleads, instead he looked Kim straight in the eye.

"If you wanna keep your friend alive you'll better do as I say." Mark threatened, aiming the shotgun at me. Kim instinctively hugged my arm that she's been holding on to the entire time, placing her cheek against it.

"Pick em' up Blondie." He nodded towards the pile handcuffs lying on the floor. Kim hesitantly let go of me and picked them up, keeping a watchful eye on Mark. "Put them on him." He ordered. Kim didn't move probably still trying to get her head around what was happening. "Do it!" He exclaimed making both Kim and me jump. She shook her head as tears started to form in her eyes, looking desperately from Mark to me.

"It's okay Kim." I reassured quickly as I saw Mark's nervous expression when Kim wouldn't do what he told her to, afraid that he might turn into Alan if things weren't going his way. "Just do as he says."

Mark pulled the hammer back causing the firearm to click. The sound must've scared Kim as she started to detangle the chains, her hands shaking. "Hurry up!" Mark grunted impatiently. His command only got Kim to fumble even more though, causing it to take longer time than it would have taken from the beginning. When she finally got them all sorted out you could tell that there were three pairs of them. She let two of them fall to the ground before bringing the last pair to me. I held out my hands to let her put them on me. She hesitated when she saw the red mark around my wrist. Her eyes searched mine as to ask for permission. It was hard for me to look at her with her eyes so full of fear and despair. I gave her a brief nod before looking down at my hands, breaking the eye contact. She carefully placed one of the cuffs slightly above my sore skin. When she was about to do the other Mark stopped her.

"Fasten them behind his back." He ordered. I sighed, as Kim let go of me so I could bring my arms back. "That's it boy. Now turn around so that I can see…" I did as he said before Kim secured the other cuff connecting my wrists together behind me, her hands shaking. "Tighten them." He said a lot calmer now. Kim did what he said, but she still left them loose enough so that they wouldn't hurt. She took hold of my hand squeezing it gently. I squeezed back, knowing that she needed the comfort just as bad as I did.

"That's a good girl." Mark said. "You can turn around now Jack. I don't think you wanna miss the show." I frowned having a bad feeling about what he meant by that. I let go of Kim's hand and turned. I don't know what was most disturbing, the gun pointing at me or the sad look Kim had on her face. There were tears in her eyes just waiting to fall, as she silently pleaded me for help, at least that's what it looked like to me. I tore my eyes away from hers, not being able to watch her any longer without my heart breaking.

"Cuff his ankles." I gave Mark a glare, not liking this at all. There's no way I would be able to defend myself or Kim restrained like that. I hated to be put in such a helpless position. Kim had gotten on her knees and was now locking the cold and hard metal around my ankles. Mark started to inch closer as he locked eyes with me. He stopped with the shotgun only inches away from my chest, kicking the last pair of handcuffs towards Kim, who still was sitting on the floor, watching the scene above her in horror. "Kneel." He commanded, looking me straight in the eye, feeling a lot more confident as his plans seemed to work out for him. I didn't really have a choice and I slowly sank to my knees with a little help from Kim. Almost feeling sick of worry I struggled not to freak out. It wouldn't be fair to do that in front of Kim. I kept my gaze on Mark refusing to look at the girl sitting next to me, because if I did I knew that I wouldn't be able to hold it together anymore. Mark smiled a little obviously satisfied that he had prevented me from getting away, before he turned to Kim. "Take them." He nodded towards the handcuffs lying on the floor. She reached for them before cautiously following Marks instructions, fastening one cuff around the short chain between my wrists and the other around the chain that went between my ankles, connecting my hands and feet, making it impossible for me to straighten out my body. As soon as I heard the small clicking sound that the cuffs made, I knew that the game was over and I had lost. The only small comfort I had was that he hadn't touched Kim yet, although I knew in the back of my head that that was only a matter of time. Mark had watched the whole thing from above, making sure that I was restrained properly. "You did this way easier and quicker than I did, Blondie. You must be a natural." He mocked, receiving glares from both me and Kim.

I tugged against the handcuffs a little just to see how much movement I had. I couldn't help but hang my head at the feeling of how much they restricted me. Kim noticed and wrapt her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I pulled on the chains in an attempt to hug her back, failing miserably.

"I'm sorry Jack." She sobbed into my shoulder. I could tell she was scared to death, just like I was.

"Kim, you've gotta promise me one thing…" I whispered in her ear. "No matter what happens to me, you've gotta get out of here alive." She didn't answer me instead she buried her face deeper into my shoulder letting out another sob. I was on the verge of breaking down myself, but I forced the lump in my throat back, knowing that I needed to stay strong until Kim was safely gone from here. "Promise me, Kim." I demanded.

"I promise." She whispered back and I breathed out a sigh of relief as I needed to hear her say those words. Suddenly she was pulled away from me. "JACK!" She cried out, panic in her voice as Mark had grabbed a hold of her.

"Leave her alone!" I threatened, struggling to get free.

Mark ignored me and pulled her closer to him, putting an arm around her neck while still aiming the gun at me. Kim's breath came out short and quick, fear reflecting in her eyes as she tried to pull his arm away, without any success. The fact that I was under death threat probably paralysed her, as she normally would have freed herself easily. She still was putting up a pretty good fight though and I could see that Mark was struggling to hold her.

There were irritation, anger and fear in his expression and pretty soon his features started to change. Oh no… I swallowed, watching in horror as my fears were realized.

"Well, well Jack…" Alan grinned. "It's payback time."

I shook my head. "No… no, please don't…" Tears were starting to form in my eyes, terrified of him trying to do something to Kim. "…please…I'll do anything…"

"Good. Then you won't have a problem paying back what you owe me." He smirked.

"What's he talking about Jack?" Kim asked worriedly. He was talking about making me pay by hurting her. I still didn't know what awful thing I must have done to go through this and to have Kim to go through it as well. I didn't have the heart to tell her what I knew was coming for her though, not with the tears that was already running down her face…

"Why don't you tell her Jack?" Alan asked seriously. "Why don't you tell her how you 'Mr oh so perfect' caused Mark the greatest loss of his life?" His voice got louder as he spoke. "Why don't you tell her how you ruined him and everything he ever loved?!" They were both looking at me, waiting for my answer. I didn't know what to say. He's never told me that he held me responsible for anything like that. The fact that I most likely was innocent didn't even cross my mind as I was too stressed out.

"I'm sorry." I said finally as it was the first thing that came to mind. "Whatever I've done, I'm sorry for it." My voice was slightly trembling from fear. "I've learned my lesson. Please let her go."

"Apologizing won't make any difference." He said bitterly. "It won't bring her back!" I looked up at him with confusion, as his eyes started to tear up and his face started to turn into a shade of red. "You KILLED her!" He exclaimed with so much rage that I actually started to shake.

"What…?! I didn't do…!" I started but he cut me of.

"Of course you did and her life can only be repaid by…" he trailed of and turned his shotgun from me towards Kim, resting the muzzle of the firearm just beneath her ribs.

"NO! NO!" I practically screamed, tugging desperately against the chains that held me. "PLEASE! DON'T!"

Everything happened so fast after that. Kim bended her knees as she turned slightly, kicking the firearm from under, pointing it towards the ceiling.

"BANG!" the shot went of sending ricochets flying all over the place as the ammunition bounced off the concrete ceiling. I flinched as some of them dug into my right arm, my heart beating incredibly fast. Alan hadn't been able to hold on to the shotgun with just one hand and the recoil caused the gun to fly through the air just to land on the floor a few feet away from him. He looked surprised as he was caught of guard, Kim used this and wrenched herself out of his grasp making him stumble and fall over. Even though I was devastated and terrified I almost smiled. There's the Kim I know and love.

She clutched her side and looked at me, a tiny amount of blood slipping through her fingers.

"Run!" I yelled at her without thinking. She reacted immediately and ran through the door and up the stairs.

Alan was up in no time, grabbing the firearm he cursed slightly before he headed after her. I pulled frantically against the chains, ignoring the pain that it caused. The only thing that I could think of was Kim. She had been hurt and I didn't know how bad. All I knew was that she needed me and I couldn't get to her. Being stuck here was so frustrating. I struggled with all the strength I had left to get free, not caring if I'd hurt myself in the process. I hated to be this useless. If I had the strength, I would gladly have ripped my own arm off just to get free and have a chance of saving her.

Suddenly the deafening sound of a gun firing filled the air. Realizing what might just had happened, I freaked out for real.

"KIM!" I screamed as I jerked hysterically on my restrains. My heart was beating so hard I thought it might dig a hole through my chest. "KIM!" After all the pulling and tugging, one of the cuffs was actually on its way to come off as it had slid down my hand. "KIM!" I screamed as loud as I possibly could, wishing desperately that she would answer. "KIM!"

I froze as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Looking anxiously out the door that had been left open like some kind of sick mockery, I wished with all my heart that it would be Kim.

Of course it wasn't her, but Mark. I felt my heart drop and my eyes started to tear up once more.

"Where's Kim?" I asked, not wanting to believe the worst. He didn't answer me too busy to mumbling to himself. When he got closer to me I saw the crimson red stains on his hand. No, no, no…please don't let it be hers…"What did you do to her?" my voice was weak and shaky, as the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. "What did you do?!" I repeated but this time I almost screamed as a tear started to trail down my cheek. He walked up to me a serious look on his face.

"Shut it!" He yelled, slapping me across the face. The burning feeling that was spreading across my cheek only made the tears come in even greater numbers. I leaned forward, my forehead almost touching the ground, just letting them all out. The thought about what might had happened to Kim caused loud sobs to emerge from my mouth.

"Enjoying the feeling?" Alan smirked. I didn't really pay any attention to him though. "You think Mark enjoyed it?"

When he was given no answer he took hold of my hair and pulled my head up so that he could look me in the eye, making me flinch. My eyes were so flooded that I barely saw the man in front of me, but I could sense his eyes piercing me.

"It tears your heart apart, doesn't it?" He almost whispered, his face only inches away from mine. There were several things I wanted to tell him, to yell at him, but all that would come out of my mouth were whimpers and sobs.

"Feeling sorry for yourself wont help you." Alan said still holding a firm grip of my hair. I knew he was right, but the pain was just too much for me to handle. "You've gotten no more than you deserve… Too bad she had to run outside so you'd miss to see it… the fear in her eyes as she choked on her own blood." He smirked a little.

His words cut like a knife right through my heart, as he had made it clear to me that Kim actually was gone. He pushed my head back down quite violently as he let go of me, causing me to moan. It didn't really hurt though, not compared to the rest of pain I was going through anyway. There are no words to describe it, the feeling that was filling my heart at that moment. I had lost everything, my freedom, my best friend even myself… in other words I'd lost my life. Kim was the worst part though… I was never ever going to see her bright smile again, never hear her laughter, I would never be able to touch her or to hold her again and she'd never gotten to know I loved her…

Alan watched me as I leant over totally losing it. Strange sounds and whimpers emerged from my mouth with every uneven and shaky breath as the tears kept on coming. He noticed the cuff that was halfway off my hand.

"We'll have none of that, kid." He said, leaning over me to replace it. I winced as he tightened them tremendously, feeling almost as if he'd cut off the circulation.

It all felt like a terrible nightmare and I would do just about anything to wake up from it. But of course no imaginary pain could ever have such a deep impact on me.

At this point I was crying so heavily that I had a hard time breathing. Somehow I'd gotten into a state of shock, panting so intense that I was starting to get light-headed. I did my best to calm down but my body refused to listen.

Just the thought of how scared she must've been and all the suffering she'd gone through made me shake with sobs. She trusted me and I'd failed her.

I had closed my eyes in an attempt to shield myself from everything around me and I didn't notice Alan as he left me all alone to drain in my sorrows. His footsteps faded leaving only my uncontrolled sobs to fill the otherwise silent room. I've never felt this lonely before and no one in the world could help me, it was already too late.

A few minutes went by and I finally managed to calm down somewhat. The tears still came in steady streams though and I wondered briefly how I could possibly have any left.

My arm hurt from where the ricochets had hit me, blood finding its way out from the fresh wound and dripping down on the floor. I couldn't care less though…

I heard footsteps approaching; knowing that it was_ him,_ the sorrow I felt was slowly accompanied by a tremendous rage that grew larger by the seconds. I looked up at the green eyes that had become synonymous with pain, fear and pure hatred. They seemed confused and stressed.

"Where's your friend?" He asked immediately when he saw my bloodshot eyes, his voice full of worry. I could tell that he was seriously wondering as he wasn't sure of what just had happened. In other words the man standing before me was Mark.

I wasn't in the mood to play along though. Even if Alan was the one to pull the trigger, I still held Mark responsible. After all he created Alan and technically they're the same person.

"You…" I said shakily, anger boiling inside of me as I watched with despise the murderer of my love. I wanted to yell out what he'd done, but I just couldn't bring myself to form the words as the truth was too painful. Instead I looked at him inhaling deeply.

"I hate you." I sniffed. Nothing could be more true. The hate I felt inside was strong enough for me to end him right then and there.

He almost looked hurt by my words, before he hurried of up the stairs again. I let out a small cry of frustration as I once again tugged weakly on the chains that held me, even though I knew it was no use. A series of weird noises came from above before Mark rushed back down again, a backpack hanging over his shoulders and a piece of cloth in one of his hands. His face was red and he panted slightly as he made his way over to me. There was such determination but also uncertainty in his face that it scared me. Being in the position that I was he could frankly do anything to me.

"What's going on?" I asked worriedly, my voice raspy from all the crying I'd done and was still doing.

"We're leaving." He said simply, bringing the cloth towards my face. Realizing what he was about to do, I dodged my head.

"Please don't." I shook my head, moving it around as much as I possibly could to prevent him from putting that thing on me. "No plea…" I was cut of as Mark managed to force the cloth into my mouth, before securing it at the back of my head. The fabric tasted old and dusty and the way it was filling my mouth made it feel as if it would choke me. I breathed heavily through my nose, trying to suppress the sobs that were building up again, knowing that if they'd break loose I wouldn't be able to provide my body with enough oxygen gagged like this.

Mark had kneeled behind me and was unlocking the pair of handcuffs that connected my hands to my feet. I was silently praying that he would open up the cuffs that were digging into my wrists, making my hands go numb, as well, but instead he unlocked one of the cuffs that held my ankles before pulling me up to my feet. My legs barely holding me up, I wobbled before finding my balance. He kneeled again, putting the free set of handcuffs around my ankle again. He then connected the free cuff to the other set of cuffs around my other ankle, making a twice as long chain between them. This would allow me to walk with shorter steps, but not run or kick at him, which he probably thought that I would do otherwise. He had a good reason to fear that though, as that's most likely what I would've done if I'd gotten the chance.

He must've learned that I wasn't letting him do anything to me without putting up a fight no matter how weak or how much disadvantage I had, for he moved fast as he pulled a bag down over my head from behind me, making it impossible for me to see. He then took hold of my arm sending weaves of pain through the small but many wounds on it, leading me of up the stairs and through a couple of doors and turns. I placed every footstep carefully not feeling comfortable with trusting Mark to watch out for me. As we headed through the last door a cool breeze of fresh air hit me and I knew we were outside. It was the first time in almost a week that I got out from that hellhole and I couldn't enjoy it. I shivered slightly as Mark pulled me away. He had speeded up his pace and I had a hard time to keep it up. He stopped abruptly before I heard the sound of a car door (or something like that) opening. A new wave of fear hit me. Where was he gonna take me? He turned me around and started to push me backwards in the direction of the car, I instinctively pushed against him with very little success of course. I frowned when I felt the car right above the back of my knee, as it was a bit higher than I'd expected. He continued to push causing me to sit down on the edge of what must be the trunk. I barely had time to register what was happening before Mark took hold of my legs. He pulled them straight up, flipping me over backwards. I tried to catch myself, but failed due to the cuffs, hitting the back of my head I let out a muffled moan. Mark rearranged me into almost a fetal position so that I would fit in the small space. The trunk was slammed shut making my heart beat twice as fast. I tried to relax taking deep breaths to keep me from panic, the claustrophobic feeling already having a steady grip of me. The fact that I couldn't see, speak or move properly got me to discover a whole new dimension of fear and I had to remind myself to keep sane if I didn't want to end up like Mark.

The engine of the car started and soon we were on our way…

I closed my eyes trying to think of something positive, but that turned out to be impossible. I've always thought of Kim before to cheer me up, but that definitely didn't work anymore. We drove for what seemed like hours and by the time we arrived to our destination I was a wreck. I sighed in relief as Mark opened the trunk and pulled me out. The ground was soft beneath my feet and the air lacked all the typical noises that a city makes. After leading me away a few steps, Mark tapped the back of my leg indicating for me to lift it a little higher. I did so as we started to make our way up the few steps that most likely led to a building. Beside me I could hear Mark fiddling around with the keys, followed by a door unlocking. He pulled me through the door shutting it behind us. The room smelt stuffy and the floor creaked slightly as I was being led across it. All of a sudden Mark pushed me forcefully in the back, at the same time as he jerked on the chain between my ankles, making me trip over. I turned in the air in a desperate attempt to save myself from falling, before hitting the ground hard, shoulder first. A muffled cry escaped my throat. Man it hurt…

"Oh yeah… sorry Tess…" Mark muttered before pulling the bag off my head. "Welcome to your new home."

I lifted my head a little, looking around the place. Most of it was covered in darkness but I could still see that there was a very small kitchen area in the far corner to my right equipped with all the necessary thins that you would ever need, including a round kitchen table surrounded by three chairs. A lamp that was the only source of light in the room hung above the group of furniture. The window placed on the wall behind the table showed nothing but pitch black darkness. Next to the kitchen area there was a fireplace. A leather armchair was placed in front of it and on the wooden walls hung various kinds of head trophies along with several pairs of antlers, making me figure that this must be some kind of hunting cabin. Mark went up behind me, lightning a small lamp that was placed on a nightstand next to a single bed, before he hurrying over to the kitchen area.

I tried to sit up, not feeling comfortable with Mark running around nervously all over the place. He didn't pay any attention to me as I finally managed to sit, leaning against the wall. I closed my eyes, my arms hurting from bring held behind my back for so long. The terrible scene that I'd witness only hours ago flashed before my eyes. The imaged of Kim's scared face made the tears fill my eyes again, one of them escaping my eyelids, making it's way down my cheek only to be caught up by the cloth I was gagged with.

"Hi Jack." A cheerful voice said. It sounded familiar but yet…weird. I opened my eyes only to see Marks face –very close to mine- a huge smile on his face. I jumped startled, pushing back against the wall, staying as far away as possible from him. He giggled at my reaction.

"Would you like some apple juice?" He asked in a silly childish voice. "It's my favourite. Dad use to buy it for me." I looked at him confused. The smile on his face disappeared and was replaced by a concerned frown. "Why are you crying?" He asked, wiping one of my tears away with his hand. I tensed at his touch, my heart racing. What was going on?

"Let me help you with that." He said reaching behind my head. I almost didn't dare to breathe as he untied the knot and removed the cloth from my mouth.

"So, now you can tell me… Why are you so sad?" As if he didn't know that already. Not answering, I looked at him as if he was nuts, which frankly I thought he was. His gaze fell upon my arm, dry blood smeared all over it. "You're hurt." He stated." No wonder you were crying, you poor thing."

Okay, he was really starting to freak me out. What was he playing at?

"Here let me have a look at that." He said kindly, taking hold of my arm and pulled on it gently. It wouldn't move more than a few inches towards him before it stopped. Mark noticed the handcuffs and gasped. I looked confused at him, wondering if he was just fooling around with me or if there was something seriously wrong with him. "Where's the key?" He wondered.

"You have it." I answered eyeing him carefully, not knowing how to read him. Crazy or not I just hoped he would go through with it and free me.

He found the key in one of his pockets and gestured for me to turn slightly, before unlocking the cuffs. The moment they fell to the floor I brought my arms to in front of me, rubbing my wrists. There were red marks around them and in some places there were actually small wounds from all my struggling against the metal cuffs. Mark was watching me closely a mesmerised look on his face. I appreciated that he'd freed me from the cuffs and the gag, but I wasn't comfortable with all the weird attention that he was giving me, not trusting him at all.

"What happened to your arm? Did you fall?"

"You know what happened…" I muttered quietly, keeping my eyes fixed on my hands.

"Did someone hurt you?" There was pity and concern in his voice.

"Yes…" I answered bitterly, the lump in my throat growing. "You did." My eyes welling up again from pain and anger, fighting the urge to attack the man who ruined my life as I learned the hard way that that would bring me nothing but more pain.

"No I didn't." He shook his head. "I would never do that." He sounded so childishly innocent that he could've fooled most likely anybody, as he glanced at my arm. I didn't care about my stupid arm though; I was more upset about the total demolition of my heart.

"You…" I started, putting my head in my hands, as I realized I wouldn't be able to hold it together much longer. "…Kim…" I whimpered and with that the tears started to come.

"Who's Kim?" He cocked his head. "Did she hurt you?"

I shook my head 'no'. "She's…gone." I said my voice cracking.

"Did you like her?" he wondered after a moment of silence. I gave him a nod, still crying silently into my hands. "More than me?"

That was a really stupid question with an obvious answer, but at that moment I was too upset to really pay any attention to it. "…more than anybody." I managed to get out.

"Oh…ehm…dad?" Mark said sounding upset. "DAD!" He exclaimed, tears in his eyes. I looked up at him, watching in horror as his eyes changed. I made an attempt to crawl away but he quickly grabbed me by the arm, preventing me from doing so.

"Trying to run, are we..." Alan said shaking his head slightly. "I told Mark he couldn't trust you. And I was right…" I tried to wrench his hand away from me, but stopped when he hit me in the face with his free hand. I let out a sob, knowing that no matter what I do, he would always find a way to make me regret it. In other words I would always be the one to lose. "Please…" I begged barely louder that a whisper. He ignored me and grabbed the handcuffs that were lying on the floor.

"Please don't." I started to pull back, causing Alan lose his grip of me. It didn't take him more than a second to send a fist towards my head. I managed to dodge it though, only to make him furious. He jumped me pounding me with his fists. I hid my head behind my arms, crying out as he hit me in the ribs and on my arms and shoulders. Paralyzed with pain and fear I almost didn't notice as he locked the cuffs around my wrists once more.

"You're such a stupid boy… And you never seem to learn..." He said, watching me as I lay on the floor shaking with sobs. "Just seeing you feeling sorry for yourself disgust me. It's all your own fault, you know." He said coldly. I was crying so hard that I barely heard him though. "I don't know how you can live with yourself…" Turning around he walked away from me. "Oh, I just remembered…" He said as he started to dig in the backpack he had brought with him. "I brought you a souvenir." I wiped away a few tears before looking up at him through puffy eyes. He threw a light green piece of clothing towards me before heading outside. It landed just in front of me and I instantly recognized it as Kim's cardigan. I hesitantly reached out and grabbed it, my hands shaking. Pulling it towards me, I spotted a brown reddish patch of dry blood on it along with several unevenly shaped holes in it and my heart just took another blow. I brought the cardigan to my face. It still smelled like her, which only reminded me of how much I'd lost. Burying my face in it I cried loudly, feeling like I would never be able to smile again. My body ached with every uneven sob that escaped my lips.

"I'm s-so s-s-sorry…Kim." I wept into the only material thing I had left of her, my voice weak and trembling. "I'm s-sorry I… I couldn't…save you." I would never be able to forgive myself for letting her die. "I should've...been the one...to die...not you..." The excruciating feeling of my heart being torn to pieces caused me to shake violently, my knuckles turning white as I desperately clutched to the knitted fabric in my hands. Never in my life had I experienced such grief before and I had no one to turn to. There was no one there for me in my hour of need. Instead I received nothing but more pain.

"But you…" I started, choking on my own sobs. "…you prom… you promised… you wouldn't die…" Pressing the cardigan even harder against my face I wailed into it. "You promised me…" The tears were pouring out and started to slowly but steady soak the fabric I was holding. "I need...I need you...I need you to...to hold me...so bad...right now. I need you...to tell me...that it's gonna...be alright." I gasped out in between the deep sobs that just wouldn't stop. "But you can't..." The cruel reality hurt so much it was hard to breathe. "...and it's all...my fault...Now…I'll never get…the chance to say…" I sniffed. "I love you."

It was true. Even though my heart was scattered in pieces, every one of those pieces were filled with an undying love for _her._ I regretted now more than ever that I never told her how I felt about her.

"I loved you...Kim…and...I love you still...with all my heart…"

I cried that night for God knows how long, until I finally fell asleep from pure exhaustion, still clinging tightly to the light green piece of clothing that used to belong to the love of my life.

* * *

**So what did you think? Hope it wasn't too cliché...**

**I'm thinking about putting in a small bonus chapter from Mark's pov that would reveal a bit of his messed up mind. Let me know if you think that would be a good idea...**

**Please don't forget to review. You'll get a sneak peak if you do;) Oh and I noticed that there was some of you that hadn't activated their PM feature, so I was unable to send you the sneak peak for this chapter. Make sure that you can receive and send PMs if you wanna get the sneak peak. **

**/MJ**


	17. Me, Myself and I

**AN/ Hi everybody, sorry for keeping you waiting so long for this chapter...**

**First I wanna say thank you to all of you who reviewed on the last chapter. There were so many that it would fill this author's note if I did a shout out, but I want you to know that every single one of your reviews means A LOT to me:)**

**This chapter is written from Mark's pov and was really fun but also challenging for me to write, but I think it turned out good in the end. It will give you some information about what's going on inside of his head.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.**

* * *

Chapter 17

**Me, Myself and I**

**Mark's pov.**

Most of the road was covered in darkness and there weren't much traffic anymore. We had left the city and for every mile we'd put behind us the calmer I got. I was still not at ease though. Had I gotten everything with us that we would need, until it was safe for us to go back? Going through an invisible check-list inside of my head I could with relief state that I most likely had.

I wondered if someone was already searching the house though. The thought made my heart rate speed up slightly. I kept telling myself that everything was okay and I was just worrying over nothing, in an attempt to calm myself down. It didn't work too well though as Alan kept popping up in my head. What if he'd done something that would make it impossible for us to ever go back?

I'm not lying when I say that I had been absolutely terrified when I came back and noticed the blood on my hands. Dreading the worst I had rushed down the stairs to the basement. I think my heart stopped as I found the boy all alone, crying his heart out.

"Where's your friend?" I asked worriedly.

"You…" He started but seemed unable to continue. Taking a few deep breaths he looked at me with such rage that I would've probably run of if he hadn't been restrained and was unable to do anything. "I hate you." He said sincerely. I didn't need to hear more to put things together. Without hesitation I hurried back up again, getting two suitcases and a backpack. I practically threw in everything that came to my mind that we would need. It was mostly clothes and food, along with my medicines, cash and some other stuff that happened to be in my way, leaving Alan's cigarettes behind on purpose. I've always hated it when he smokes. It makes my throat sore.

When I was about to get outside to put the suitcases in my car I noticed a light green cardigan lying in the hallway. I picked it up, inspecting it. I was positive that it belonged to the girl that had been there just minutes earlier. There were bloodstains on it, which only made me even more worried.

"Relax, everything's fine." Alan reassured in his usual, arrogant way. "I've taken care of everything."

"Where's the girl?" I asked.

"Outside." Alan answered casually. "Oh by the way… we should probably bring that thing with us." He said, referring to the knitted piece of clothing I held in my hands.

I nodded and stuffed the cardigan into my backpack, before heading out to the car with the suitcases. Once inside again I threw the backpack over my shoulder, picked up a small rag and made my way down to the basement.

The boy eyed me anxiously as I approached him.

"What's going on?" He asked worriedly, fresh tears trailing down his cheeks.

"We're leaving." I answered simply as I attempted to gag him. He dodged though.

"Please don't." He shook his head and it took me a moment before I managed to shove it in his mouth, ignoring his pleads. If I wouldn't gag him, he would most likely scream for help once we're outside. I just couldn't risk that. After rearranging the handcuffs so that he would be able to walk on his own, I pulled a bag over his head, just in case.

He was much more cooperative than I'd expected him to be and it didn't take long until we were on our way…

I took a look through the rear view mirror, before turning to the right. The road here was much smaller and almost empty from other vehicles, just the way I liked it…

I tried to concentrate on driving but the blond girl kept popping up in my head. What had happened to her? I had searched the house without any results. And after a quick look around the yard I could state that she wasn't there either. The blood and Alan refusing to tell me what had happened, really worried me. Not to mention the boy's seemingly unstoppable tears. Everything pointed towards one thing- Alan had killed her…with my body…which meant that I was a murderer… I shook the thought out of my head. No I wasn't a murderer… was I?

I hadn't found any body yet. For all I knew there was still a possibility that she was alive…right?

If that was the case, she either got away or Alan hid her somewhere… My head was cramped with what felt like a thousand thoughts that just wouldn't go away. I wasn't gonna sleep well tonight, that's for sure…

The woods around us were deep. Turning left into a very narrow road, more like a path actually, we made our way further into the darkness…into safety…

After a couple of miles along the bumpy path, we finally reached our destination. The small cabin along with the outside shed was completely covered in darkness.

I stopped the car and got out. The silence in the air made me relax a bit. We were safe here, for now at least… I think…

"What are you so worried about, dad?" My beloved daughter's sweet voice, chimed in my ears.

"It's nothing my dear." I reassured her. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get inside."

The boy felt calmer than before as I pulled him out of the trunk and guided him inside. Switching the light on, I scanned the room. There was a small cleared space next to the bed that would do as a 'storage place' for the boy. Once there I picked up the chain between his ankles with my foot. He didn't seem to notice, before I gave him a hard push in the back, while at the same time jerking back at the chain with my foot. The boy fell instantly, crying out as he hit the floor. His cries were muffled though, thanks to the gag.

"Dad, please let me have a look at him." Tess said with enthusiasm.

"Sure" I mumbled, not really paying any attention to her.

"Can you please remove the bag then?" She said a little annoyed.

"Oh yeah…sorry Tess." I apologized as I pulled the bag off of the boy's head. "Welcome to your new home." I muttered, looking at him. His face was slightly red and he breathed heavily. The many tear streaks that trailed down his face only reminded me about our current situation. I inhaled a shaky breath as I went to unpack and settle down, since it looks like we're going to stay here for a while.

"What happened to her, Alan? The girl, I mean." I asked as I fumbled to get the fridge to work. He didn't answer me though. "Where is she? Is she still at my place?" I could sense he didn't like my choice of words. "Sorry… our place." I corrected myself. "Well… is she?"

"Just relax already." Alan said, clearly annoyed. "I told you, I've got everything under control."

"No you haven't" I shook my head. "None of us have. I've got to find her. If the police get to her before we do, we're doomed." My heart started racing as I realized that if she lived she would easily be able to identify me.

"Dad, can I talk to Jack?"

"Not now Tess. I'm busy." I said.

"But dad…" She tried again, only managing to stress me out even more. And of course Alan noticed.

"Maybe it's better for you to retreat for a while." He said soothingly to me. I sighed, perhaps he was right.

"Can I talk to Jack then?" Tess asked hopefully, seeing her chance.

"I guess so…" I answered, immediately feeling Alan getting anxious.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea Mark." He said. "The boy can't be trusted. You can't leave her alone with him."

"Well technically, she won't be alone." I said. "You'll be watching her, right?" I swear I could feel him rolling his eyes at me.

"Fine." He said reluctantly. "But don't come and say I didn't warn ya."

"Yay!" I could hear Tess exclaim, as I retreated back to my comfort zone, shutting the rest of the world out. Leaving all my worries behind, I was finally able to relax in my own safe paradise…

* * *

When I came back my throat was dry and a terrible itchy feeling was spreading through it. I coughed, which I almost immediately regretted as that only teased my airways, making me cough even harder. The smell that hung in the air around me filled me in on what was going on. I quickly released the cigarette I was holding crushing it against the pavement. I hated when Alan did this to me…

Taking in my surroundings I realized I was at a gas station not too far from the hunting cabin. In my left hand I was holding a bag with some newly bought items. With a quick glance down into the bag, I could tell that Alan hadn't exactly bought the stuff I would've. There were a pack of cigarettes, two candy bars and a magazine with some dirty content. I sighed looking at the recite. At least he'd gassed up… I brought out a couple of mint pastilles from my pocket and shoved them into my mouth to get rid of the awful taste that the cigarette had caused. For a moment I thought about going back and buy some supplies that we would actually need, but the boy came to my mind and I hurried of towards my car, worried Alan might had done something to him in the time I've been away.

The cabin was much easier to locate this time as a dim light shined through its windows. I practically jumped out of my car and rushed over to the door. Bursting through it, I found to my relief the boy still laying on the floor were I'd left him. His back was facing the wall and his head was pointing towards the bed. He had buried his face in the green cardigan that Alan had wanted us to bring. At first I wondered if he was asleep, but the small sounds of his sobs and sniffles quickly gave me the answer though. The fact that he was awake worried me a little as I noticed his arms weren't secured behind his back anymore, but I calmed down when I saw that his wrists were still cuffed together, which would give me an advantaged if he decides to try to fight me. I've seen this kid in action and that's nothing you wanna go up against…

He didn't seem to notice me as I changed into my pyjama. Strangely enough I wasn't hungry even though I hadn't eaten since lunch. Figuring Alan must've taken care of that for me, I climbed into my bed and pretty soon I was drifting of to sleep to the faint sounds of the boy crying...

* * *

The bright sunlight that filled the room, made me squint my eyes as I started to wake up. To my surprise I had slept unusually well and it took a moment before I recalled what had happened yesterday. I rolled over looking down at the floor next to the bed. The boy was still there, lying perfectly still using the cardigan as a pillow. I had to check a little closer to make sure that he breathed. As I did so I noticed that he was awake already, his eyes fixed on the opposite wall.

"Morning." I muttered sitting up. He shot me a glance without moving his head or the rest of his body. "Had a good night's sleep?" I asked in a cheerful way, trying to lightning up the mood. He watched me carefully as I got out of bed, but remained silent. In the corner of his eyes there was what looked like tears. Was he still crying?

After getting dressed I went over to the small kitchen area to make us some breakfast. While fiddling around with the frying pan and setting the table, I noticed the boy starting to move as he slowly and hesitatingly sat up. Resting his back against the wall, he brought the girls sweeter to his chest, holding it tightly as he eyed me carefully. I paid him no greater attention though as I fried the eggs.

Whistling to myself I put the food on my plate and poured the coffee into my cup. Satisfied with the breakfast I'd prepared for myself I sat down and started eating. The silence was interrupted by a loud growl from the boy's stomach. I looked over at him, making him cringe slightly.

"You want some?" I smiled in amusement by his reaction. He was obviously intimidated by me, which was good, because as long as he feared me, I didn't have to fear him…

He gave me no answer, but he hadn't eaten in 36 hours, so I figured he must be starving. I put together some bacon and an egg along with a bun of bread on a plate for him, before pouring up a glass of juice to him as well. He tensed as I approached him, but I ignored it and put the meal on the floor next to him. For a moment I didn't think he was gonna eat any of it, as he just stared at it, not moving a muscle.

"It's okay." I said. "We still want to keep you alive, so you better eat… preferably before _he_ comes back, since he most likely wouldn't approve of me giving you this." I added when I saw he wasn't going to eat any time soon. I wasn't completely sure either if feeding him was such a good idea though. We needed to keep him in somewhat poor condition to be able to hold him here. But then again we really needed to keep him alive for Tess's sake, besides he was in irons, so he couldn't do that much, right?

I retreated back to the table to finish my breakfast. The boy slowly started to eat his meal a little awkwardly due to the handcuffs that was restricting his movements. After a few mouthfuls he quickened up his pace though and pretty soon he was practically throwing the food into his mouth.

"Take it easy there, kid." I warned. "…if you don't want it to come back up again." He gave me a quick glance before slowing down to a more normal pace. None of us uttered a single word for the rest of the breakfast.

The boy had cleared his plate and was now back to puttering around with the girls sweater in his hands. Stroking the fabric with his thumb, he stared at it.

I started to do the dishes, almost forgetting about the plate that the boy had used. Reminded by it I went over to him, picking it up.

"Why do you hate me?" He asked quietly, startling me as I hadn't expected him to speak. Still keeping his gaze on the green piece of clothing he was holding. I watched him in silence for a moment, not really knowing what to say.

"I don't." I said simply. Even though his head was tilted forward and I could barely see his face, I still noticed a tear that got stuck in his eyelashes. I rolled my eyes. When was this kid ever gonna stop…?

"Then why did you do this to me?" He wondered. There wasn't any anger in his voice, like you would've expect, only sadness. Swallowing he tried to suppress the tears that threatened to fall. I cocked my head to the side, studying him, as I thought about his question. A faint feeling of guilt went through me. I never meant to hurt him, really. All I wanted was to make my little girl happy. I wanted her to love me and to have her close. Somehow in my naïve mind I had thought that the boy was the key to get all of that. I'd never thought of the consequences. Alan wasn't supposed to ever show up, let alone do whatever it was that he'd done. Everything's just got way out of my hands.

"I didn't do it." He spoke up again shaking his head slightly, before looking at me. His eyes were screaming for someone to help him, to understand him. "I didn't kill anyone."

"Never thought you did." I shook my head, wondering what he was talking about.

"Then why did you kill Kim?" I could see that it pained him to utter those words as he waited for my reply. I was unable to give him any answer though as the question had hit me like a rock to my head. Alan had actually killed her. I looked down at my hands. The hands of a murderer…

It was all too much for me to take in and I could feel _him _taking over me again. Inhaling deeply I turned away from the boy to put the dishes by the sink. My hands were shaking, causing the porcelain to rattle as I put it away.

I needed to get back and find the girl somehow, and I needed to do it now, before it was too late… Maybe it already was too late. Maybe someone already found her. I took my jacket and headed for the door. Just before I was about to go through it I shot one last glance at the boy. He had been watching me with a mixture of fear and curiosity, but quickly looked down as I met his eyes. Could I leave him here alone for so long?

He hadn't tried anything yet. All he had done so far was crying and by the looks of it, it seemed that he would continue to do that… I never seen him or anyone else for that matter so broken before, it's like his fighting spirit was gone. Deciding that I probably didn't need to worry, I stepped outside.

"I'll be back soon." I said to him before shutting and locking the door.

* * *

I took a glance through the rear view mirror, making sure that we were not being followed. My mission to find the girl had failed, since my house had practically been swarming with cops, leaving me no other choice than to turn around and flee, hoping that no one had spotted me.

I turned the car off the road and followed the path up to the cabin. It had taken longer time than usual to get back as I had had to take quite a long detour to trick any possible followers. I had also stopped on the way to buy some antiseptic and disinfecting substances to care for the boy's injured arm.

As I drove through the woods I couldn't stop thinking about the blond fourteen year old.

"Alan" I said breaking the silence. "You've gotta tell me where the girl is." I really needed to know that.

"She's not back at the house if that's what you're worried about." He answered casually. I was about to ask him another question when I saw something or someone moving between the trees. I quickly turned my head to the right as I slowed down the car. There was nothing out of the ordinary; still I was positive that I had seen something. Could it possibly be someone spying on me… Convincing myself that I probably just imagined it I continued, although I couldn't wipe the thought of being followed, away completely.

Once at the cabin I brought the things that I'd bought out of the car, wondering briefly if the boy would let me touch him long enough to clean his wounds. The last image I had of him curled up next to the bed almost not daring to even look at me, made me figure that he would most likely be too scared to put up a fight against it.

I unlocked the door and stepped in. The first thing that I noticed was that it was unusually cold inside. Confused I eyed the window on the wall behind the table. It was completely shattered, small pieces of glass covering most of the floor and the table beneath it, causing them to glitter. Panicking my gaze flickered to the now empty floor next to the bed. Dropping the bag of medical supplies I was holding, I felt my stomach turn as I realized; the boy was gone.

"Oh no…" I mumbled, frantically searching the room with my eyes, even though I knew it was no use. "What to do…what to do?" My heart was speeding up as I stood there, not being able to think straight.

"I'll take care of this, Mark" Alan reassured. "Just relax and leave it to me. I'll bring him back again for you and make sure this doesn't happen again. I promise."

For once I appreciated Alan's help and I slowly let myself fall into my own personal sanctuary…

* * *

**That's all for now... Hope you liked it.**

**Please don't forget to review:) There will be a sneak peek of the next chapter for you if you do:)**

**/MJ**


	18. An Unexpected Helping Hand

**AN/ Greetings my fellow Wasabi Warriors... Chapter 18 is here! **

**A lot of you have been wondering what happened to Kim. This chapter will give you the answers. I just wanna make one thing clear though, since this chapter starts with Kim's pov... Kim doesn't know about Alan therefore she simply calls him Mark. Just so you don't get too confused. I've written Mark's name on purpose although Alan is clearly present...**

**I also want to say thanks for all your reviews. They really inspire me and keeps me writing:)**

**And a also a special thanks to MrsCharlieAckles who helped me with the title for this chapter:) (If you havn't read any of her storys, you really should btw... They're really good.)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it. **

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Chapter 18

**An Unexpected Helping Hand**

**Kim's pov.**

My heart pounded like crazy, as I tried to think of what to do. Mark had wrapt his arm around my throat, while he awkwardly was balancing the shotgun in his other, still aiming it at Jack. I struggled to get free, but not too much though; afraid that he might pull the trigger if I did any sudden movements.

Everything felt so unreal, never in my life had I seen Jack so scared and helpless. Never in my life had I been this scared and helpless. As I pulled on Mark's arm a bit more, I could feel how he tensed and changed his body posture, which caused Jack's eyes to widen in horror.

"Well, well Jack…" Mark said in a new more confident way. "It's payback time."

Jack shook his head. "No… no, please don't…" I could see tears were starting to form in his eyes, which only caused me even more distress. What could he possibly be so scared of, that it would cause him to cry? "…please…I'll do anything…"

"Good. Then you won't have a problem paying back what you owe me."

"What's he talking about Jack?" I asked worriedly, but received no answer.

"Why don't you tell her Jack?" Mark asked seriously. "Why don't you tell her how you 'Mr oh so perfect' caused Mark the greatest loss of his life?" His voice got louder as he spoke. "Why don't you tell her how you ruined him and everything he ever loved?!"

I was really confused and scared now; searching for an answer I looked into Jack's eyes waiting for him to say something.

"I'm sorry." Jack said. "Whatever I've done, I'm sorry for it." His voice was trembling. "I've learned my lesson. Please let her go."

"Apologizing won't make any difference." Mark said bitterly. "It won't bring her back! You KILLED her!" He exclaimed making me jump slightly, shocked by the accusation. This got to be some mistake. Jack never killed anyone.

"What…?! I didn't do…!" Jack started but was cut of.

"Of course you did and her life can only be repaid by…" He trailed of and turned his shotgun away from Jack and pointed it towards me instead. I realized where this was going and if I was gonna do anything, this was probably my last and only chance.

"NO! NO!" Jack screamed, struggling to get free. "PLEASE! DON'T!" I tried my best to shut his desperate cries out, as the sound of them was breaking my heart.

I quickly turned and kicked the firearm from under, pointing it towards the ceiling.

"BANG!" The sound was deafening and it scared the daylights out of me. A burning pain spread across my left side, increasing by the second. The man holding me had loosened his grip in surprise, which gave me the opportunity to twist myself out of his hold. I clutched my side, feeling my hand getting wet as the blood had made it through my layers of clothes. I searched comfort in Jack's eyes, but was only met with the same fear and worry that flooded through me.

"Run!" He yelled and I did just that. Trying to block out the pain, I ran for my life up the stairs, already hearing Mark coming after me. Being slightly disoriented when I got to the ground floor, I stopped for a very short moment, before locating the door that would lead out from this horrible house. Rushing over to it, I reached for the handle but was jerked backwards just before I was able to grab it.

"I've got you now, Blondie." Mark hissed in triumph as he held on to my arm, while fumbling a little with the shotgun he had brought with him. I quickly grabbed his wrist and twisted it, causing him to let go of me and stumble backwards. He looked a bit surprised, before he launched himself at me again as I struggled to unlock the door. His left hand landed right on my wound sending painful weaves through it. Grabbing hold of my cardigan he desperately tried to prevent me from escaping. I slipped right out of it though before bursting through the front door, leaving Mark with only a garment in his hand. He frustratingly threw the cardigan on the floor and hurried after me. I was a good step ahead of him though. Gasping for air I pushed my body to the limit, running as fast as I possibly could.

The distance between me and the man who chased me became longer and I couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. Realizing that he must've stopped to…oh no…

I threw myself on the ground behind a parked car at the same time as the shot rang through the air. My jeans ripped as my knees came in contact with the asphalt. Ignoring the pain I pushed myself to my feet again and took of running once more, relieved that he'd missed me.

I turned at the first crossing I got to, trying to lose him. I didn't know if I was still being followed, but not willing to take any chances I kept going. Suddenly the road was lightened by the headlights of a car that was gaining on me from behind. My fear reached even higher levels causing a few tears to escape from my eyes, as my legs just couldn't go fast enough to outrun the approaching vehicle.

"Kim!" A familiar voice came from the car that was now driving next to me. I glanced at the seventeen year old boy, the voice belonged to and I can honestly say that I've never been so happy to see him. Relieved I slowed down to a halt as the car stopped almost immediately. I opened the door and jumped in the backseat. Before I managed to close the door again, the car was already accelerating.

"What happened?!" Eddie practically yelled out the question, sitting in the passenger seat, "Was that a gun firing?" He looked at me as if he didn't believe his eyes. No wonder, because I was mess, with my ripped clothes, tangled hair and red face with tear streaks running down most of it. My uncharacteristic behaviour just added on to it, as I cried quite hard and I had trouble to breathe normally from all the running. Eddie's never seen me cry before, in fact none of my friends really had.

"Are you okay, Kim?" Austin asked concerned, shooting me a glance through the rear view mirror.

I let go of the wound on my side, which I had been clutching without even noticing it. My hand was covered in blood, just as I had feard. I put it back quickly to press on the wound again, trying to keep the blood from escaping my body.

"I…I don't know…" I answered truthfully. My mind quickly went back to the gun firing and Mark and… "Jack!" I exclaimed, receiving confused looks from both Austin and Eddie.

"Did Jack hurt you?" Austin asked trying to hid his anger that had started to grow by that thought.

What?!

"No…of course not." I said my voice shaking. "He's in danger…"

"What are you talking about?" Eddie wondered, worry reflecting in his voice. "You found Jack?"

"Yes…" I wiped a few tears away revealing the wound for a split second.

"Wow! Kim you're bleeding!" Eddie realized, a disgust expression on his face. Austin gave me a worried look before stepping on it, taking us further and further away from the man who wanted to kill me and the terrible basement, but also further away from Jack.

"We have to go back." I gasped, afraid that Mark would do something terrible to Jack, who wouldn't have the slightest chance to get away.

"No, we have to get you to a hospital." Austin insisted.

"But you don't understand." I shook my head. "His life is at stake."

"Your life is at stake." He said firmly, as he speeded down the road. I couldn't really argue with him on that. I didn't know how bad my injury was. The blood and the pain scared me, but the thought about what might happen to Jack was even more terrifying. I needed to go back.

'_But what if you're seriously hurt?'_ A small voice inside my head argued.

'Yeah…but what if Jack's getting hurt…' I countered. '…or worse…' The tears welled up again.

'_There's really nothing you can do.'_ The tiny voice said.

'Not now…But I could've… I could have fought Mark. I could've saved my best friend. Instead I ran, leaving Jack behind in the hands of a maniac. What kind of a horrible friend am I?' Not really being able to stop it, I let a sob escape my lips. Austin noticed.

"Everything's gonna be okay." He said soothingly. "We'll get you to the hospital and we'll call the cops to go after the man who chased you." He took out his phone from his pocket, still holding his other hand on the wheel. "...Ok?"

Something popped up in my head right then, not really paying any attention to what Austin just had said.

"How come you came driving this way? Eddie's house isn't in this direction at all." I noticed Eddie giving Austin a look, as if they were hiding something. "Were you following me?"

Austin sighed knowing that he would have to tell me the truth.

"Yes, we were following you."

"You were following her. You." Eddie pointed at Austin. "Not me…" I gave Austin a glare.

"It's just that…you acted so strange outside the dojo… I needed to make sure…"

"You followed me?!" I cut him of. "I can't believe it."

"Hey, just be thankful I did." Austin defended. I knew I should be thankful and I actually was, but I still can't believe he felt the need to follow me. "Now, are we gonna call the cops or not?" He asked.

I nodded, meeting his eyes in the rear view mirror.

"Do you wanna make the call or would you rather one of us do it?" He offered holding up his phone. I thought about that for a moment, not sure if I could pull myself together enough to talk to the police. When I didn't give Austin any answer, he sighed and dialled 911. I don't recall much of the call at all. I somehow managed to give Austin enough information for him to retell what had happened, before we arrived at the hospital. I felt calmer knowing that someone was going to come to Jack's rescue and I could focus on myself a little more. I needed time to heal both physically and emotionally, I knew that, even though I would have wanted to turn around and go and get Jack this instance.

Once at the hospital, they almost immediately got me ready for surgery, while Austin and Eddie contacted my family and our friends back at the dojo. The last thing that went through my head before heading off to a very deep sleep was a small but deeply sincere prayer for Jack…

* * *

I was a little confused to see the white walls as I opened my eyes, knowing that they didn't belong to my room. The beeping sound coming from the monitor I was connected to, made me frown, realizing where I was.

Not recalling anything that could have possibly gotten me into this situation I turned slightly. My side stung by the movement, causing me to moan.

Yeah, I was definitely hurt… My head felt heavy and I struggled to think straight, searching my memory. At first everything was a blur, really, not making any sense at all. But as the minutes past, little by little the scenes of yesterday's traumatic events came back to me. I remembered the sound of the gun firing. I remembered Mark, the man who tried to kill me. I remembered the fear and the pain, and that dreadful basement. And I remembered my best friend, all scared and broken. My eyes went wide. Where was he? I needed to know what had happened to him. Had they found him? Was he safe?

The door opened and a nurse walked up to me, causing me to temporarily let go of the thoughts that ran through my head.

"I see that you're awake." She stated, checking the monitors. "How are you feeling today?"

"Fine, I think…" I answered. "A bit tired though." She gave me a smile.

"That's no wonder; after all you've been through…" She said kindly. "The doctor will be here any minute. He will answer all your questions about the surgery. That is if you have any…" I frowned, I hadn't really thought about that. All that filled my mind were the terrible things that had happened yesterday. It still felt as if it hadn't really taken place though. The fear that had been so real just hours ago seemed so far away now as I lay safely tucked in, in a soft hospital bed with white sheets. Everything felt more like a dream actually, all but one thing –Jack. I could still feel his arms around me as he'd embraced me and his voice still rang in my ears. The warmth of his body so close to mine and the way he had leaned on my shoulder, soaking it with tears, all the emotions that had showed on his face…everything was so vivid.

Lost in my thoughts I didn't notice the nurse leaving, nor the doctor that entered the room.

"Hi, I'm doctor Rickford. How are you feeling, miss Crawford?" He wondered, standing next to my bed. I snapped back to reality by the sound of his voice.

"Fine." I said, looking up at him with a forced smile on my face, knowing that if I didn't complain about anything, there was a chance of getting home earlier. I wasn't really lying either, I actually felt pretty okay and I wasn't in that much pain.

"Well that's good." He smiled, before turning his face into a more serious expression. "Do you recall anything of what happened yesterday?" I gave him a nod. "You've been shot with a shotgun… from what it looks like, although none of the shot had gone very deep…" He made a short pause, probably hoping that I would fill in with more details. I didn't say anything though. "Anyway, we got all of the shot removed, there were nine of them to be exact and we made a few stitches. Luckily no vital organs were harmed." He smiled again and I felt so relieved. "You're gonna make a full recovery out of this. You can consider yourself very lucky."

I relaxed as I heard the good news. I hadn't even noticed that I had been bracing myself for what he had to say.

"How long do I have to stay?" I asked, crossing my fingers. Hopefully it wouldn't be that long.

"If you're stable and nothing unexpected occurs, then you'll probably be able to leave tomorrow already."

I know that that was considered as a very short time at the hospital after being shot (technically I hadn't really been shot though…) but right then it felt like tomorrow was an eternity away.

A sudden knock on the door made both of our heads turn towards it. The door opened and the same nurse that had been in here just moments earlier, peeked through it.

"Excuse me, Miss Crawford. You have some visitors."

I smiled, stupidly hoping that Jack would be one of them, even though I knew that that would be almost impossible. But still I couldn't help but feel disappointed when he didn't show and I had a hard time covering up my emotions as my mum and dad walked into the room, followed by Austin and Eddie.

"Hey sweetie. We've been so worried." Mum said walking up to me. She gave me an awkward hug, since I was still half lying, half sitting and not really willing to move as it caused the stiches to hurt.

"How are you feeling?" Dad asked over her shoulder.

"Fine." I answered the same question for the third time this morning and I've only been awake for half an hour. I could see that dad wasn't really satisfied with the answer though, as he waited for me to continue. "I'm just tired and it hurts a little when I move, but other than that I'm feeling okay." I said as mum let go of me. Her eyes were watering but she also had a big smile spread across her face.

"We're just glad you're okay, honey." She said softly, stroking my hair. "You've kept us up all night." I hadn't noticed before, but now I saw how tired both her and dad looked. Had they really been up all night?

My eyes wandered from my parents to the two teenage boys who were standing right behind them.

"Hi Kim." Austin greeted when I met his gaze, a smile appearing on his face.

"Hi…" I smiled back. "Have you guys also been here all night?" I wondered.

"No." Austin shook his head. "We left after Mr and Mrs Crawford here arrived, but we drove back the first thing in the morning."

"Yeah we wanted to make sure everything was alright." Eddie nodded. "The rest of the Wasabi Warriors are on their way here too."

I smiled at that, for a moment thinking that the rest of the warriors included Jack like it used to. Remembering everything that had happened I quickly realized that he wasn't gonna come and my smile disappeared again.

"Where's Jack?" I blurted out the question at the same time it popped up in my head, ignoring the slightly hurt expression on Austin's face. "Did they find him? Is he okay?"

"Honey…" Mum started as she took my hand in hers, the way she use to do when she's about to tell me something that she knew I wasn't going to like. I know that she does it to calm me, but the gesture had the opposite effect on me as I had started to recognize this pattern since long ago. Holding my breath I waited for her to continue. "The police have been searching the house for clues and such all night..." I looked at her confused.

"Clues for what? They must've found him there, right?" I asked worried that they would answer my last question with a 'no' or something worse... None of them said anything right away, causing my heart rate to increase. "Right?" I tried again.

"Sweetie…" my mum sighed. "The house was empty. No one was home."

"But… but I saw…"

"No one doubts you." My father reassured. "There is enough evidence already that he really was there. The neighbours had heard the gun firing, you went to surgery and the blood they found in the basement…" Mum gave him a look to get him to stop rambling on about it, but I had already heard enough to understand that something serious must have happened.

"What blood?" My eyes darting back and forth between them before landing on my mum as she was the first to speak.

"They found blood stains on the floor, but since you were there when you got hurt, it's most likely yours. All your father is saying is that everyone believes you and they're going to continue to search for Jack." She said hopefully, trying to cheer me up.

I just stared at them all, trying to get my head around everything. Why hadn't they found him yet? Was he still with Mark? If so I needed to get out of here as soon as possible. I needed to go and find him. Who knows what he's might be going through as I'm just lying here being useless?

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**That's all for now... Hope you liked it. **

**And YAY Kim's not dead:) Sorry for keeping you in suspense for so long, but I thought that Jack's emotions would feel more real if you actually believed that she was dead...**

**Please don't forget to review. You'll get a sneak peek of the next chapter if you do.**

**/MJ**


	19. Escaping

**AN: Hi all my loyal readers:) I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update... I've been really busy, but I will never give up on this story, so don't worry.**

**Thank you so much PersonNatalie, TeddyBear98, MrsCharlieAckles, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWast ed, hgirl, aligning street lights, Guest, StupidlyGenius, Guest, 10pandarule10, krc93, Tomboy03, StripedFuzzySocks, 88Keys, Owltreegirl, Kickthedestroyer, 1379, WatchTheMemoriesFade, LiV3-Lau9h-L0v3, Dreaming2BAWriter, Guest, Alyssa.**

**Your reviews mean a lot to me. I never expected this story to get so many followers and to be so popular, when I first started it. I really appreciate every single one of you who reads this story. You're what makes me wanna continue and do even better.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 19

**Escaping **

**Jack's pov.**

Mark had looked really stressed when he had taken one last glance at me before heading out the door. He hadn't given me any answer to why he'd killed Kim, instead he had acted all nervous and hurried of, leaving me all alone again. I hadn't dared to say anything, knowing that if I uttered one wrong word at the wrong time, Alan would show up almost instantly. He might do anyway… What if Alan would be the one to come back?

I shuddered at the thought. Could I take one more of his violent outbursts? I was already so bruised and battered that every move I made hurt to some extent.

Looking down at Kim's cardigan, I tried to swallow down the lump in my throat. It felt unreal that it was only last night that I'd held her in my arms. She had been so close and so full of life…and now…now she was gone. Gone forever. I covered my face with my hands. How would I ever be able to live again?

To be stuck here with a psychopathic maniac was hard enough, but losing her was more than I could take.

"Oh Kim," I whispered, feeling as if she somehow could hear me. "I don't know what to do."

Well I knew that I needed to get out of here, I just didn't know how.

Deciding that it would be no use to just sit around and wait for Mark to get back, I might as well try to find a possible way to escape.

I managed to stand up without taking too much effort, before taking a look around. Knowing that Mark had the keys to the handcuffs that trapped my hands and feet, I didn't waste any time to go and look for it. Instead I concentrated on finding a way to get out of this cabin.

Even though I knew that the door was locked I still felt the need to at least try to open it. But just as I had predicted it didn't work. I turned around and scanned the room. The only other way out would be through a window and this place had three. I didn't manage to open any of them though as they'd been bolted shut from the outside. Mark had obviously made sure that I wasn't gonna be able to leave that easily.

This left me with only one option- to break a window. I would probably not be able to do it without some sort of tool though, not in the condition I was in. Besides I didn't feel like getting cut by the glass that would most likely shatter. At first I thought about using a chair, but I wasn't sure that they would be strong enough, since they looked kind of rickety. Searching for anything that I could use, I spotted the frying pan that Mark had used earlier. I grabbed it with both hands and went over to the nearest window, which happened to be the one behind the kitchen table. Taking a quick peek through it, I made sure that the ground was safe to land on and also that Mark hadn't come back. I hesitated slightly. What if he was on his way back and he saw me just as I was about to leave? I didn't know how much time I had to make my escape. Would there be enough? Or what if the window wouldn't break and he found out what I'd been trying to do? That most likely would bring out Alan and God knows what he'll do to me then…

I didn't know when I was gonna get a chance like this again though, and if I'd stay I would sooner or later come face to face with Alan anyway. The thought made me make up my mind quickly and I swung the frying pan against the glass. The window cracked immediately from the impact. A sudden hope filled me, my freedom so close now, I could almost feel it. I lifted the pan once more and with a newfound strength I smashed the window for a second time. This time it completely shattered and fell apart. Using the frying pan, I swiped lingering pieces of glass off the ledge.

I went over and grabbed Kim's sweater. There's no way I would leave that behind. The painful truth washed upon me again as I clutched the soft fabric in my hands. I tried to block it out though and focusing on my escape instead.

I didn't know how much time I had until Mark would come back, all I knew was that if he came back now, he would catch me red handed… and I didn't even wanna think about what he might do then.

Feeling a little stressed I took one long step. Hitting the end of the chain, I stumbled, almost falling to the floor. Somehow I managed to stay on my feet though. Cursing slightly at the cuffs I continued towards the window, walking more carefully.

Now to the tricky part -to actually make it through the window. At first I thought about doing some kind of flip out, but decided against it, since just walking was hard enough.

I sat down on the ledge and somehow managed to swing my feet over to the other side. It wasn't an easy task with the chains restricting my movements. Clutching the sweater, I jumped. A shock of pain went through my sore body as my feet hit the ground, causing me to groan. I stood up straight and looked around. I had absolutely no idea of where I was. There were just trees that to me looked the same in all directions.

There was a path though barely big enough for a car to travel on it. It didn't take me long to figure that that was the way we'd come from last night. In other words, the path would lead me back to civilization. Problem was though that Mark must've gone that way and the chances of meeting him on his way back were pretty big. But I couldn't just walk blindly right out in the forest either.

Deciding that the best option would be to follow the path but at the same time stay hidden from it, I started to make my way through the bushes, careful not to lose sight of the trail…

* * *

I stumbled across the uneven terrain, pushing away branches and such with my arms, although new ones seemed to constantly appear, scratching my face and body. At more than one point I had lost track of the path, but after some minor panic attack and some searching I had managed to find it again. Several hours had passed as a result though. I hurried up a little, not wanting to be in the middle of the forest when night comes.

Suddenly I heard what sounded like an engine. My head shot up, looking towards the source of the sound. In between the trees a car appeared, heading in the opposite direction I was going. It only took a second for me to react and throw myself behind a nearby tree trunk, but I still feared that he had seen me. Pressing my back against the trunk, I hugged Kim's sweater as if that was the thing that would keep me safe. I listen anxiously as the car slowed down. He must have noticed me. Why would he otherwise slow down?

But to my surprise I heard the sound of the car disappearing in the distance. When I was sure it was gone, I let out the breath I'd been holding and relaxed my body against the trunk. I was shaking and I needed a moment to calm down before I was able to continue. Realizing that Mark would soon be at the cabin, which meant that he would realize I was gone, so I tried to move as quickly as possible, knowing that he would soon be looking for me.

It had gone almost fifteen minutes since I saw the car and I was starting to get really tired after walking for hours. As a result my legs were feeling like they were made out of led, which caused me to slow down my pace. That was until I heard the car coming back from the cabin at a full-throttle. I quickly made it behind a huge rock, as the car came to a stop, not far from where I was hiding.

In the rush to get out of sight I had fallen to my side, squashing my injured arm. I had to bite my lip to keep me from crying out. Afraid that he would hear or see me if I moved too much, I stayed lying on the ground.

Pulling my knees to my chest, I tried to make myself as small as possible. Preferably so small that I would be impossible to see... I heard the car door open and someone stepping out as I took one deep breath to pull myself together enough to think and act if needed.

"Jack! I know you're here somewhere!" He shouted suddenly through the forest, making every muscle in my body tense. "You must be hungry and cold. Why don't you come out and I'll take you back to the cabin." He was walking around now, occasionally breaking a stick as his feet set on the ground. "I won't hurt you!"

'Yeah right' I thought as I held my breath, listening to every move he made. My body was frozen to the spot and my heart was pounding so hard that I was afraid he might hear it.

"Jack!" He called again, further away from me now. I silently prayed that he would walk back to his car and drive off, in the hopes of finding me somewhere else. "Jack! You can't hide forever!" He sounded more frustrated and angrier for every minute, causing my fear of being caught to grow.

I pressed Kim's sweater to my face, afraid that the sound of my breaths would blow my cover otherwise. Her scent filled my nostrils as I closed my eyes, letting myself disappear from the outside world for only a few seconds. Seeing Kim's bright face before my eyes, I squeezed the cardigan even harder.

I opened my eyes again, as I listened. The forest looked so peaceful and it had a calming influence on me. A cool breeze passed by, making me shiver slightly, even though I really tried hard to stay absolutely still.

It seemed as if the man I feared had walked off as I wasn't able to hear him anymore. I stayed put though, not willing to take any risks.

Rhythmically rubbing the soft garment I was holding with my thumb, I waited for it to be safe for me to continue. I hadn't heard the car driving away, so I figured it must still be parked here, which meant that he couldn't be that far away and he most likely would come back to pick it up. A few more minutes went by without any sounds of him and I was able to relax a little, my pulse slowing down as I took another deep breath, inhaling Kim's scent.

I barely noticed the shadow that appeared next to my feet, before I heard the deep voice from my nightmares.

"Doesn't she smell lovely?" Alan grinned, making me jump out of my skin. My heart racing, as I started to get up on my feet. But halfway up, I fell back down on the ground. Panicking I flopped and twisted in an attempt to get away from the vicious man. When it didn't work I looked towards my feet just to realize that he was standing on the chain that went between my ankles.

"Why in such a hurry?" He asked, meeting my gaze. A giant smile was upon his face, as he watched in amusement my desperate attempts to get away from him. I didn't answer his stupid question; instead I sat up and reached for him, trying to get him off the chain somehow. He kicked at my head, still keeping his other foot on the chain, but I managed to block it with my arms. With a swing of his arm he forced his fist towards my face from above. I barely registered it, but thankfully my body reacted quickly and my arms stopped him from hitting my face. Assuming that he would go for another punch I kept my arms up in a defensive way. Much to my surprise though, he grabbed the chain he was standing on and jerked it right up, causing me to fall over backwards as my feet now hung in the air.

"Let me go!" I kicked frantically at him to make him lose his grip, but being in the position I was, it was almost impossible to get any power into the kicks. Alan started to pull on the chain, dragging me in the direction of the vehicle. "No! Please." I twisted and turned onto my stomach, desperately grabbing hold of anything that was within my reach with my unharmed arm, but everything seemed to slip out of my hand. The few branches I was able to grab broke or were to light and were just pulled along with us. Tears started to well up in my eyes as the car came into view.

"Please!" I dug my fingers into the dirt, even though I knew that it wouldn't work. "Let me go! Please."

He didn't listen to me, (not that I really expected him to) instead he dragged me over to the car. I could tell that he had to struggle quite a lot, since he breathed heavily and beads of sweat were showing on his forehead. I was exhausted too, after walking around for hours and the last struggle had left me drained from energy.

"Please…"

Once at the car Alan let go of me to open the back door. My legs fell to the ground. I saw my chance and began to stand up in an attempt to make a run for it. I needed to get away from him. I had barely gotten to my feet when I heard what sounded like rattling of chains though. The moment after a striking pain shot across my back, sending me back down onto my hands and knees.

"It's kind of rude to run away like that, don't you think?" Alan said, taking a couple of steps forward so that he was standing next to me. I kept my eyes on the ground as the pain spread, causing me to tremble. In the corner of my eye I could see the heavy chain that he must've used to hit me with, dangling from his right hand. He bent down and took a hold of my shoulder. I instinctively tried to shake his hand off and crawl away from him. "Didn't you hear what I just said?" He grunted irritated. The chain disappeared from my sight and was soon crashing down my back again, full force. My arms and legs collapsed underneath me as I cried out in agony. Lying on the ground I twisted and turned, trying to escape the overwhelming pain. Moaning I clutched Kim's cardigan hard. My breath coming out short and hard as I squeezed my eyes shut. It hurt so bad, it was impossible to think of anything else.

I didn't notice as Alan loped the end of his chain, which had a ring attached to it, around the small chain on the handcuffs that held my wrists. He then took the other end of the long chain and pulled it through the ring, securing it to the cuffs.

The pain soon decreased a little, allowing me to be aware of what was going on again.

Alan started to pull me along by the chain, towards the back of the car. I did my best to pull back though, digging my heels into the ground, a tear escaping my eye as he was winning little by little.

"Please." I begged, slipping closer to the car.

"I can't believe you dared to run away, after everything Mark has done for you." Alan muttered, standing behind the car now.

I frowned confused. Mark hadn't done anything for me more than causing me pain.

"…or perhaps you just enjoy going for walks in the wilderness. In that case; this is your lucky day." He smirked.

I barely had time to register what he meant by that, before he forcefully jerked me forward. Landing flat on my stomach, I gasped for air, my arms and shoulders aching from the sudden tug.

Alan quickly wrapt his end of the chain around the towing hitch and secured it with a screw gate carabiner, leaving me about six feet of the chain to move around in. Giving me one last quick glance he noticed the cardigan I was still holding.

"I'll take care of that for you." He smirked and wrenched it out of my hands.

"No please…" I did an attempt to reach for it but he quickly turned and walked over to the driver's seat.

"If I were you I'd get to my feet. I won't stop and wait for you, so you better keep up." He said before shutting the car door.

Realizing what he was about to do, I hurried to my feet. It hurt to move that quickly but I pushed through it, knowing that lying on the ground when he started driving wouldn't be too pleasant. My legs were barely holding me up though. Hoping that I would have enough energy and strength left to make it all the way back to the cabin, I swallowed back the lump in my throat. I was worried that he might drive off like crazy, making it impossible for me to keep up. The fact that I had no other choice than to walk back into captivity made my eyes tear up again. I had been so close of getting my freedom back.

Caught up in my thoughts, I didn't notice as the car began to roll forward. The slack in the chain was soon gone and I was pulled forward. I stumbled a little, giving myself a real scare. Falling to the ground wouldn't be a good thing in my situation.

I concentrated on the car while every now and then glancing down at the ground to prevent me from tripping as we made our way back to the cabin… and back to my perdition. At least that's how I felt.

Thankfully Alan had been driving slowly the whole way and it had been pretty easy for me to keep up, even though I was really tired… That was until the cabin came into view…

The car speeded up suddenly. Unable to run in my restrains I fell almost instantly. It felt as if my arms were going to be ripped off at any second as I was pulled along by the still accelerating vehicle. The friction from being dragged across the ground ripped my clothes and scratched my knees and torso. I shut my eyes hard, as the dirt came flying all around me. A sudden pain shot through my elbow as it crashed into a rock. I could feel a warm tickling feeling as the blood coming from it slowly made its way down towards my shoulder.

Roots and rocks constantly bruised my body as I bumped over them. The tears were falling from my eyes and I struggled to breathe. It felt like an eternity before the car finally slowed down to a stop.

I lay on the ground, shaking and panting, not being able to decide which part of my body hurt the most. Crying silently, I went all internal from the shock, barely noticing Alan taking the chain off the towing hitch, allowing my arms to fall to the ground. Not being able to move through the pain, I wondered if any of the injuries would be serious enough for me to die from them. It sure felt like it…

I was grateful for the few minutes I was allowed to just lay there. But they ended all too quickly as Alan began to pull on the chain again.

"Please…" I choked out in between the sobs; the pain throbbing through my sore body as he moved me was so strong it made me nauseous. "…don't…" I twisted and turned to find a way to ease the pain. Soon I was on my back. I don't know if it was any better but at least my sore knees and torso were getting a break.

Alan kept on pulling, determined to get me inside. When we reached the few steps leading up to the mini porch he stopped for a moment just to grab a hold of my arms to lift me up the stairs. I pushed myself up towards the door with my feet. There was no way I would be able to get away at that moment anyway, so I might as well be cooperative and save me some meaningless pain.

Well inside he dropped me on the floor in the middle of the room. I curled up, trying to shield myself from the outside world. Through the tears that flooded my eyes I saw the broken window from which I had just hours before made my escape through. It had seemed like a good idea back then, but now I regretted even thinking about running away. It had led me nowhere; I was still at the same place with the same monster of a man. All I had done was giving him an excuse to hurt me…and hurt me he had…

I sniffed, eyeing the cuffs around my wrists. They had cut into my skin even more under the rough ride, causing it to bleed at some places. Wiping some tears away I tried to pull myself together. Crying like this wasn't going to help me, I knew that. But I was so scared and hurt that it was almost impossible to stop.

Alan had walked outside, but I could still hear him easily through the broken window. It sounded as if he was out in the small shed. Worry started to spread in me. What was he doing? Was he planning on hurting me even more?

I moved a little so that I would get a better view at the door, not wanting him to sneak up on me with anything…

A couple of minutes past before Alan showed up again. He had a hammer in his right hand and some kind of box in his other. All I saw was the hammer though. Cringing, I started to shake, almost certain he would beat me with it. To my relief though, he went past me and headed to the broken window.

Realizing that he was about to repair it, I let myself relax a little. Still keeping a watchful eye on him though, as he went back and forth a few times before he had all the supplies he needed to make a temporarily repair. I lay as still as possible as he cleaned up the scattered pieces of glass and started to work. Maybe if I didn't move, he would leave me alone.

It took him almost an hour to get it done. He had basically just covered the hole in the wall with boards so that the wind wouldn't blow through it. Hoping that he'd turned back to Mark during the work, I studied him.

He seemed satisfied with the result and turned his attention to me. I quickly broke the eye contact by looking down at the floor. Without hesitation he walked up to me and squatted beside me. Please be Mark… I can't take more beating…

"You know kid…" He started, sounding as if he was in a pretty good mood. "…I made Mark a promise earlier." I felt my heart sink, realizing he was still Alan. "You see, Mark got rather upset when he noticed that you were gone. I don't really care about having you around. Heck, if I'd be in charge I would have ended you long ago. "He chuckled. I didn't see what was so funny though. "Anyhow… I'm here for Mark's sake and he really wants to keep you alive so… He's also afraid that someone will find us. That's why we can't let you leave." I listened carefully, still not daring to look up at him. "I promised that I would find you and bring you back. That I have done. But I also promised that I was gonna make sure that this will never happen again." I swallowed, shooting him a worried glance, before looking down again. "So I need you to promise me Jack Brewer that you'll never run away again." I was a little confused. Was that all he was gonna make me do? I'd never heard him use a so friendly tone while talking to me before. Whether that was a good thing or not, I couldn't tell though.

I was forced to leave my thoughts behind and come back to reality as Alan had lost his patient with me not giving him any answer and taken a steady hold of my jaw. He lifted my head up and turned it slightly so that he could look me in the eye.

"Jack, are you ever going to try to run away again?" He asked me, his glare intimidated me so much, it was hard to speak.

"N-no" I answered, too scared to say anything else.

"Do you promise?"

"Yes…" He let go of me and started to undo the chain he'd been using to drag me around with, from the handcuffs. Chuckling to himself, he shook his head slightly.

"You're lying." He stated simply, before reaching down to my feet.

"No…" My voice was barely audible since I wanted to defend myself, but I didn't have the courage to really speak up and I also wasn't sure if I was telling the truth. At that moment I would never dream about escaping, but I also knew that I couldn't stay here forever. So maybe he was right, maybe I was lying…

Suddenly he grabbed my leg and forced it next to my other.

"What are you doing?" I asked worriedly, raising my head to get a better view of him.

"Just making it easier for you to keep your promise." He said about to wrap the chain around my legs. Realizing what he was trying to do, I started kicking, ignoring the pain it caused. His head whipped around as he gave me a glare.

"Have you learned nothing!?" Anger and irritation were clearly shown in his voice, as he almost threw himself at me. Placing one foot on my hand, squashing it against the floor, he took hold of my hair right above my ear and with a forceful jerk he pulled my head as high up it would go from my lying position, before slamming it sideways back down against the floor. He had moved very fast. I barely registered what happened before the room had started to spin. The pain pounding through my head made the nausea return.

Alan was still holding a firm grip of my hair as he pressed my head against the wooden surface. My eyes began to water again, feeling the blood slowly slide down my face. How come I wasn't able to do anything to stop him from hurting me?

"Now, if you don't hold still, I will have to go to plan b and trust me you don't want me to do that." He hissed before releasing me. I just lay there, frozen with fear as he took hold of my legs again. Holding them in place by putting his knee upon them and using his weight to push them down, he took off the cuffs and started to wrap the chain around my ankles tightly. He finished by securing it with the same carabiner he'd used earlier, leaving me absolutely no room to part my legs from each other.

Alan stood up and went over to his toolbox. The tears had started to fall from my eyes again, as I watched with worry how he picked up a screwdriver and some other small items that I really couldn't make out what they were, before he placed them in his pocket. What was he doing? Or more importantly what was he gonna do?

Multiple horrible scenarios flashed before my eyes, causing my fear to grow. He walked past me though and up to the spot next to the bed, where I had spent most of my time in here. I tilted my head slightly upwards to have better look at him. He was squatting with his back facing me, so I couldn't really tell what he was doing.

Once he'd finished he stood up, giving me a clear view of the hitching ring he'd placed on the wall, about five inches above the floor.

I had a hunch about what was coming, but I was still startled as Alan grabbed me by the handcuffs and dragged me across the floor.

"No, please. " The pain in my arms came back with full force, feeling as if they would snap. "Please." I begged, desperately trying to pull away from him. He dragged me until my body was parallel with the bed before fastening the handcuffs to the hitching ring with a padlock. I instinctively pulled against it, trying to free myself but to no use.

Alan stepped over my body, kicking me in the side while doing so -probably on purpose- before going over to the kitchen area to prepare dinner for himself. I rolled over to my side, facing the room and curled up. Hands being held above my head, I buried my face in my arms and cried, feeling like all hope was lost. Would I ever be able to make it out of here?

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**OK that's all for now... Sorry to all of you that hoped Jack would make it... But this story ain't over yet...**

**Please don't forget to review. ( You'll get a sneak peek, if you do;)**

**/MJ**


	20. The Interrogation

**AN/Hi Chapter 20 is here! can't believe this story has come so far...**

**Thank you StripedFuzzySocks, TeddyBear98, StupidlyGenius, 1379, Alyssa, Fan, Jacknkimforever, sad-beautiful-tragic, September14Fall, Guest, Randomgirl111111, MrsCharlieAckles, 10pandasrule10, Nerdygurlk13, Tomboy22, Kickthedestroyer, LiV3-Lau9h-L0v3, Bluedog270, hgirl and 88Keys for all your reviews:)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 20

**The ****Interrogation**

**Kim's pov.**

The minutes felt like hours and the hours felt like days… I turned slightly, looking at the clock on the wall. 3pm. They had all left me alone to rest, problem was, I had way too much to think of and I hadn't gotten any sleep because of it. I wanted out of here. The drugs I'd been given kept me drowsy as if they were trying to force me to go to sleep. I fought them though. I needed to stay awake in case anyone would come and bring me some news about Jack.

The traumatic scene from yesterday kept repeating itself inside my head. The more I thought about it the more questions popped up. At first I had been worried sick about Jack –and I still was- but other things had started to pass my mind, like; why was Mark doing this? Was Tess a part of it? How had they managed to take him? Why Jack? Where were they?

The questions increased in numbers as the time slowly went by. They made my head feel heavy and it became harder to stay awake. It wasn't long until everything melted together in a blur and darkness took over…

_I shivered slightly, the lack of light made it very hard to see. The walls around me were made out of rocks and seemed to endlessly continue into the complete darkness. Was I in a cave? _

_Suddenly I heard someone approaching me from the shadows. I looked in the direction of the sound, getting ready to fight. Whatever was lurking around in the dark didn't have good intentions. I could feel that. _

_I nervously waited for the creature to appear, getting more anxious for every second passing by. Would I be able to take it down by myself? _

_As on cue a hand was placed on my shoulder and a deep voice spoke to me._

"_Don't worry. We can take him together." I felt a lot more confident by the strangers reassuring words. _

_Once the figure came into reach, we attacked him. The fight was hard and I had to use all my skills to be able to finally flip him to the ground. As he lay on the floor, I took hold of his arms, making sure he couldn't get back up while the stranger brought out a dagger and pierced his chest. He gasped and his arms went limp in my grip. _

"_Kim…help…" My eyes widened. I recognized that voice. Looking down, I met the face of the boy I love. _

"_Jack…?" I asked confused, eying the blood that stained his shirt. "No, no, no." I shook my head, tears forming in my eyes. "No Jack, don't leave me!"_

"_He's already gone." The stranger's deep voice came from above. He kneeled down next to me, his green eyes looking into mine. "Thank you for helping me take him down." He smirked. "I couldn't have done it without you."_

"_No, no…Jack" I started to shake him. Gently at first, but when he didn't respond I got more violent. "Jack…I didn't mean to… Jack...! Please wake up… JACK!"_

I woke up by the sound of my own voice. Relieved that it was just a dream, I rubbed my eyes. It only took me a few seconds though until the dreadful feeling from the dream was back, realizing that the reality was almost as bad. Betraying the one person I cared most for in this world, I had helped Mark to keep Jack from getting away. The normally so tough and strong Jack had been tied down with chains, making him completely helpless, and all because of me. A sickening feeling filled my guts. Mark could literally do anything he wanted to him and that man's already proven to be sick enough to try to kill me. Had he tried to kill Jack too? The logical part of my brain told me that if he'd made an attempt of doing so, he'd most likely succeeded, which meant…

I was thankfully interrupted from my thoughts as the door opened. Swallowing down the lump in my throat that's been growing ever since I woke up, I eyed my visitors. It was a nurse followed by my mum. They both gave me a smile, which I tried to return as good as I could.

"How are you feeling, honey?" My mum asked almost instantly, making me roll my eyes slightly. How many times had they asked that question already?

"I'm fine." I said as convincing as possible. Physically it was almost true but my emotions were far from fine. I was still worried sick for my dearest friend.

"Well everything seems to be in order." The nurse stated as she checked the monitors.

"Is there anything you want?" My mother wondered, standing next to my bed now. "Are you hungry?"

I thought about that for a moment. The truth was; I was hungry, but I didn't feel like eating and I wasn't sure if I would be able to stop the food from coming back up if I did.

"I don't know…"

"They're serving Spaghetti Bolognese in the cafeteria. I could bring some to you." She looked at me, waiting for my answer. The mention of food caused my stomach to growl.

"Yeah…maybe a little spaghetti would be nice." I said, caving in for my empty stomach, even though I probably wouldn't be able to eat.

"I'll be back in a minute." Mum smiled, squeezing my hand before leaving me alone with the nurse who was busy changing my IV bag.

A pretty awkward silence filled the room for a brief moment before it was interrupted by a knock on the door. We both looked up in surprise as a quite heavy built man entered. He looked to be around his forties and had a slightly bald head.

"Hello, I'm Chief Inspector Graham." He introduced himself, immediately causing the sickening feeling in my stomach to grow. "I would like to speak with Miss Kim Crawford." I shot up in bed, but almost fell back down again by the dizziness the quick movement caused, not to mention the pain that went through the stitches.

"Is it about Jack?" I blurted out, trying to keep myself from falling. "Have you found him?" I wanted him to say yes, of course, but I also dreaded that maybe they'd just found his body… "Is he alright?" I already knew he wasn't okay though, he hadn't been yesterday and he most certain wouldn't be today… While I've been throwing out my questions, the nurse had changed the bed and fluffed the pillows, piling them behind my back so that I could rest against them. Mr Graham sighed as if he was deciding what to say.

"Yes, it's about Jack, Miss." He started, before turning to the nurse. "I would much like to talk to Miss Crawford alone… It's a police matter." He explained, trying not to sound rude.

"Yes of course, sir. Sorry" She excused and headed for the door. Just before closing it behind her she turned to me and said." If you need anything, just call."

The door closed and I quickly looked back at the man who maybe had all the answers to the questions I've been dying to ask.

He took a seat in the chair next to my bed and cleared his throat. I was so eager to hear what he had to say that I almost forgot to breathe.

"Well, as you know Jack Brewer has been missing since Sunday and no one has seen or heard anything that could lead us to him. That was until last night when you stumbled upon him in Mark Greene's house." He gave me a look, trying to read my expression, as I listen to what he had to say. "…but now he's gone once again." I looked down, trying to hide my disappointment. So they hadn't found him. "I've been assigned to solve this case and I can assure you that I will do everything within my power to get this boy back alive." He said, making my hope grow and I met his eyes again. "However, I'm gonna need some help from you." He smiled a little at the confused look on my face. "I would like you to tell me exactly what happened last night, with as much details as you can remember."

I thought for a moment. Where should I start…?

"I had just finished my practice at the dojo and was on my way home…" I hesitated. Was that really how it all started? Hadn't I met Mark twice that day, before my practice? He had asked for me at the dojo… I stared at the wall in front of me as I realized that it hadn't been a coincidence. Mark had been looking for me. And he'd found me. I can't believe that I walked right into a trap… It was a very disturbing thought, knowing that someone had been –and probably still was- hunting me.

"Miss…?" Inspector Graham said, sending me back to reality.

"Oh…sorry." I excused, looking at him. His eyes were scanning me carefully, as if he was trying to see right through me, which made me feel uncomfortable. Could I trust him? I tried to shake the thought out of my head. Of course I could trust him. He's trying to help Jack to get back home… but then again I had just been fooled by the man who tried to kill me, believing that he would never even think about hurting me…

"I was on my way home and decided to take a detour to Jerry's house to..." I said. I'm not good at lying but technically I didn't lie, so it worked out better then expected. "…to return his sister's scissors." I added quickly. Why was I changing the story?

"She forgot it in the dojo." I explained, pretty satisfied with how I got things together.

"So who is this Jerry?" He asked me.

"Just a friend. He trains at the same dojo and we go to school together."

"I see." He nodded slightly. "So you went to his house?"

"Well…not really…I went to it but I'd never entered." I said as I figured that they would most likely wanna interrogate Jerry, and he would not be bright enough not to tell them that I was never there. "Instead I walk over to the house were Mark lives with his daughter. He just came home from work… yeah that's what he did." I smiled, choosing my words carefully. But no matter how hard I tried I seemed to get deeper and deeper into a real mess. "That's how he got my attention… so after he'd gone inside, I'd reached the house and I knocked on the door."

"Why?" His eyes were piercing me as I searched my mind for a good explanation.

"I wanted to talk to his daughter Tess." I answered after some hesitation.

"About what?"

"About…" I didn't get to say more before I was cut off by the door opening. Thank God for that… I needed time to think about my answer, because I didn't really have one. The reason why I'd knocked on the door was to check if Tess was alive… which doesn't make any sense. I mean who does something like that? My intuition had been very strong though. I don't know why, but something had told me to get to the bottom with this Tess thing and that it somehow would lead me to Jack… and I had been right. A part of me wanted to believe that it was due to the deep connection between Jack and me that had led me to him. And who knows, maybe it was… but probably not.

"I brought you some dinner, dear." Mum said as she entered, balancing a tray with food on it in one hand while closing that door with her other. She stopped just before reaching my bed as she noticed the man sitting next to me.

"Good day Ma'am." He greeted. "I am Chief Inspector Graham. I'm here due to the events taking place yesterday." She relaxed a little.

"Good day Sir. I'm Mrs Crawford, Kim's mother." I could hear the tension in her voice.

"Nice to meet you Mrs Crawford." He said politely. "I was just talking to your daughter about last night." My mum shot me a worried look.

"Are you sure you're feeling well enough to do this now, honey?" I gave her a small nod.

"Yes." I answered. "Jack's in trouble and the sooner they find him the better. And if this is the only thing that I can contribute with, then I wanna do it…" Mr Graham smiled satisfying. I felt unease again as I watched his expression. Now, why did I feel that? He cleared his throat.

"If you'll excuse us Mrs Crawford, but we need to get back to… our conversation." I could tell he chose his words carefully, not willing to upset mum. She was still pretty tense. "We would prefer to be left alone." Mum shot him a glare, which he noticed. "It's a police matter." He said holding up his badge to show that it was true. She couldn't really argue with that. Sighing, she put the tray down on the small table that could be arranged to be placed in the bed, before lifting the whole table and placing it in front of me.

"I'll be right outside, if you'll need me." She said and gave me a peck on the cheek before leaving. Mr Graham changed his position in the chair slightly, turning his attention to me again, causing me to cringe ever so slightly.

"Em…do you mind if I…" I gestured towards the food.

"No, no go a head." He nodded in approval, while I started to shove some spaghetti into my mouth. I was grateful that I had it, because now I could use the eating as an excuse not to answer his questions immediately if I needed time to think.

"So you finished your practice around…?"

"6 pm." I filled in for him.

"Right… and then you walked to your friend Jerry's house, but noticed Mark coming home from work, so you decided to go over there and knock on the door…" He gave me a strange look. Forcing more food into my mouth I gave him a nod. "You wanted to talk to Teresa or Tess as you called her, about the karate tournament…" I stopped in the middle of a chew. I don't think I mentioned anything about a karate tournament. Slowly starting to chew again I thought about telling him, but I quickly realized that if I did that I would need to come up with some other reason to why I had visit her.

"Yes." I said simply, trying to hide my uncertainty. The Chief Inspector leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms.

"You do realize, that Teresa was killed in a car crash two weeks ago?" I felt the colour drain from my face. Obviously he'd figured out that I wasn't telling the whole truth, and I wondered briefly what would happen next. Could I be thrown in jail for this? Probably not, but at that moment I feared it.

It looked as if he was about to say something but then he stopped himself as to rethink his words. I swallowed down the food I'd had in my mouth, not knowing what I should answer.

"Did you ever noticing anything weird going on around Jack? Someone acting weird or some strange things taking place lately?" He asked, changing the subject. I seared my mind for anything like that, but without success.

"No…" I shook my head. "Not that I can recall."

"There haven't been anyone trying to contact him?"

"No." I said once again, as he seemed to take in my answers.

"Are you absolutely sure?" I sighed and really tried to think hard.

"I haven't noticed anything." I said honestly.

"Okay…When you were…" He was cut off by a small melody coming from his pocket. "Excuse me Miss." He apologized as he brought out his phone and held it to his ear. "Hello…uhum…yes." Checking his watch, he rose from the chair. "Are they sure?...the basement yes…" He seemed a little stressed as he walked over to the window. "I see… No." I think I stopped breathing as I tried to concentrate on what he was saying. Who was he talking to? "So that means the boy's hur…" He stopped himself, realizing he wasn't alone; he threw me a very quick glance before turning his back to me again. "I'm on my way." He said into his phone before hanging up and started to walk fast towards the door. "Sorry Miss, I've got some urgent business to take care of. I'll come back later." And with that he disappeared through the door.

I sat frozen in bed, trying to process what had just happened.

The whole interrogation had caught me of guard and I hadn't been able to give him the right information. Not that I was entirely sure that I wanted to… That's another thing that was weird. Why did I feel like I couldn't trust him?

I leant back against the pillows, my brain running on full speed. He hadn't gotten much out of me… but maybe I had gotten something out of him…

Why had he mentioned the karate tournament? He hadn't caught himself bringing it up either, so that probably meant that he must've made up his mind about that the tournament played an important role. The question was why would he be so certain that I wanted to talk to Tess about that? I mean I do karate, so of course I'd be interested in something like that, but Tess…

After a moment it hit me, I had met both her and Mark at the tournament where Jack had done such a great match, only two weeks ago. So adding that up; that must mean that Tess and her father are into karate as well… right?

I blamed the drugs for my slow thinking, knowing that I actually already done that connection, while I was looking in Nelly's scrapbook.

I replayed the scene where Jack had taken a picture with them over and over again inside my head. Trying to find something that would give me some kind of clue to what Mr Graham was talking about.

The tournament had been on a Sunday, two weeks ago and Tess had been there… This meant that we'd seen her on the same day she died… That is if she really was dead. I still wasn't sure about that, even though Mr Graham had told me so.

I sighed. It was all so confusing. Mr Graham had seemed keen to know if I'd noticed anything strange and I hadn't…or had I…? It was much easier to think now when I was alone and it didn't take long until the note Jack got from Tess popped up in my head. How could I forget about that? What was it that it'd said?

It was something about giving him a sponsorship and they wanting to meet him behind the gym… without anyone knowing about it…

My eyes widened slightly when I realized that they hadn't just been interested in karate. They'd been interested in Jack and done multiple attempts to get him, without any of us noticing it. How could I be so stupid?

Of course, this was what Mr Graham suspected too. Mr Graham… Why did he run off like that? Having heard only one side of the phone call, it really made no sense to me… Although a few words had stuck in my mind; _basement _and _boy_, and there was yet another word, a half one that I tried my best to ignore, but it still hunted me…

I knew that they must've been talking about Jack. Who else could it be?

Eyeing my meal, I felt my stomach turn. Suddenly I wasn't so hungry anymore. I wanted out of this place… I needed to, for Jack's sake.

I had so many questions that needed answers… Luckily I think I might just know someone who can give them to me. It was impossible for me to get to this person now though; and if I did, I couldn't do much anyway. I had no other choice than to face the fact that it would have to wait until tomorrow, when I was good to go home. I just prayed that it wouldn't be too late then…

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**That was all for now guys...Hope you liked this slightly weird chapter...**

**Of course there'll be sneak peeks to all who reviews:) and also the more reviews I get the faster I'm gonna post the next chapter ( written from Jack's pov...)**

**/MJ**


	21. Meeting Tess

**AN/ Hi. Hope you all had a great Christmas:)**

**I wanna say thank you Bluedog270, StupidlyGenius, We are all Imperfect, popie92, September14Fall, TeddyBear98, 1379, Dreaming2BAWriter, datgirl11065, taylor, Randomgirl111111, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWast ed, Awesomeuoossss, MrsCharlieAckles, PersonNatalie, StripedFuzzySocks, Melody Midnight, Heywhatsup, hgirl, Guest, 10pandasrule10, Gueast, Kat-May, 88Keys, krc93 and Nerdygurlk13 for all your reviews. You're amazing:)**

**It took a while longer than I'd planned to get this chapter done. Sorry for that... But it needed a lot of editing and it turned out to be really long... and slightly weird...ok really weird...haha... I might as well put in a warning here: It's a pretty rough chapter (you should be used to the Jack chapters by now though...)**

**DISCLIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 21

**Meeting Tess**

**Jack's pov.**

My arms had gone numb from being held above my head for so long and without thinking I tried to pull them down into a more comfortable position. I immediately flinched as my sore wrists had to pay the price for that, the cuffs cutting into the thin skin that was left around them. The flinch caused my body to ache even more. My back felt stiff and swollen from were he'd hit me with the chain and my elbow was throbbing with pain, not to mention the sting from the wounds on my knees and the bruises and scratches covering a larger part of my torso… and the headache I'd been accompanied by ever since he'd slammed my head against the floor. My injured arm was swollen and hurt like crazy every time it came in touch with something and the chain wrapt around my legs was most certain to leave bruises, that is if it ever would come off. The tears burnt in the corners of my eyes. I quickly closed them, trying to trap the tears behind my eyelids. Everything hurt and the only thing I could do was to bite the bullet and try to endure. The pain must fade eventually…right? It has to…

Alan had left after finishing his dinner. I didn't know where or how long he would be gone. Not that I really cared, as long as he wasn't near me. Hours had passed though and it was starting to get both dark and cold in the cabin. Alan hadn't left any lights on and the darkness consumed my surroundings as the minutes passed. The wind played with the trees outside, causing them to creak. Growing super hearing in the dark I tensed at the sounds. I'd never been afraid of darkness before. Frankly I'd never really been afraid of anything before. Sure there's been stuff that freaks me out like clowns and such. But this was different… I was scared all the time now, believing that everything was out to hurt me.

Still lying on my side in the same position as he'd left me in, time was dragging by real slowly. I glanced up at the cuffs that secured my wrists to the wall above my head. There's no way I would be able to get free from those on my own. Feeling very discouraged I let my gaze fall. Why wasn't anyone coming to my rescue? Why couldn't they find me? A sudden fear of not being missed hit me. What if no one cared that I was gone? What if no one cared to go search for me?

I swallowed, trying to dismiss the thought. Someone's gotta be missing me. Kim had. She had searched for me and she'd found me. A small wave of warmth washed over my heart, knowing that she had cared for me. The feeling was soon replaced though, with an indescribable deep grief, when I was reminded of the fact that I would never see her again. I knew my life would never be the same, even if I made it out alive. How could it, when the reason why I woke up every morning with a smile on my face was gone?

I didn't notice my eyes finally flooding, as a single tear trailed down my cheek until it hit the floor.

In the darkness I could imagine her sitting next to me. She was giving me that smile that I adored and I could almost bring myself to return it. Her shape got clearer and I could now easily make out her deep brown eyes looking down at me. She looked so real. In an attempt to touch her I pulled on my restrains, without achieving anything but causing the small wounds around my wrists to sting.

"Kim…?" I whispered, looking at her, hoping that she would answer me, although I knew she wasn't really there. Lifting my head, I tried to get a better view of her. She smiled shyly, pulling a few strands of hair out of her beautiful face.

Suddenly something lit up the forest outside, as the sound of a car grew louder. Kim vanished before my eyes just as quickly as she'd appeared.

"No Kim…please don't lea…" I caught myself talking to her and quickly stopped. She wasn't there. I knew that I had just imagined her, even though she'd seemed so real. Reminded of the fact that I needed to stick to reality and leave her behind if I didn't wanna end up like Mark, talking to people inside of his head, I tried to concentrate on what was actually happening in my surroundings.

The car stopped outside the cabin; as I let my head slowly fall back down on the floor. Someone was coming. I hoped with all my heart that it was someone that would help me, but I knew that it would most likely be Mark or worse yet; Alan. Feeling extremely vulnerable, I hid my face in my arms and pulled my knees up towards my chest, as I heard the door being unlocked. I knew that curling up like this wouldn't keep him from seeing me, but at least I felt safer and by doing so I could pretend that he wasn't there yet, if just for a moment or two.

The door opened, letting the cool night air into the room, before it closed again. I shivered, hearing the familiar footsteps as he walked over to the kitchen. I let myself relax just a little, listening to whatever he was doing. It sounded as if he was fiddling around with some small packets and a plastic bag. After he was done he started to approach the spot where I was lying on the floor. I tensed and buried my face deeper into my arms. Waiting for the pain I knew was coming, I started to shake. He stopped right in front of me. On the verge of crying, I prayed that he would leave me alone, still not daring to look at him.

He let go of the thing he was holding and let it fall to the floor with a thud. I jumped by the sound, letting out a small whimper. My heart had speeded up and I had to fight the tears that threatened to fall. The fear grew for every second passing by, as I waited. The fact that he just stood there without doing anything freaked me out. What was he planning?

Suddenly I felt a touch on my head as he placed his hand on it. I flinched pressing my head, if possibly, even deeper into my sleeves. Not the head again…please not the head...

I expected him to pull my hair, but instead he let his hand rest on it, rubbing my temple with his thumb. I let out the breath I'd been holding, still not daring to move. His hand trailed down my cheek, pressing itself in between my face and my arms, until it found its way around my chin. I tried to turn my face down towards the floor to cause him to let go of me. He had already taken a firm grip around my jaw though, and was now trying to turn my face up towards him. His movements were gentle, but assertive and without any struggling I let him lift my head up to face him. I squinted slightly at the bright light, my chin resting in his hand. Meeting his green eyes, my heart skipped a beat and I quickly broke the eye contact, looking down. Those eyes scared me like nothing else. He inhaled deeply, carefully touching the patches of dry blood on the part of my face I'd previously kept hidden from him. His fingers followed the blood trail until they found the cut just above my hairline.

"What did he do to you?" Mark asked concerned, breaking the silence. I didn't know what I should answer him. Wasn't it obvious? He'd hurt me physically so bad that I thought for a moment I was going to die, before chaining me to the freaking wall.

When he realized I wasn't going to give him any answer, he let go of me and stood up. He went over to the fireplace, to light up a fire, which was needed. The place started to get really cold. Relieved that Mark was here again and not Alan, I closed my eyes, resting my head against the floor again. Maybe I didn't have to go through more tonight after all.

It didn't take to long until the calming sound of an open fire filled the cabin and the temperature started to slowly rise. But I couldn't bring myself to relax, too anxious about what might happen.

I listened carefully to him pouring up water into a bucket, before walking over to me again. I once again refused to look at him, keeping my head down and squeezing my eyes shut. Why couldn't he just leave me alone?

I jumped as I felt him grab a hold of my ankles and quickly pulled on them to straiten out my body. Opening my eyes at the sudden tug, I moaned in pain as he turned me onto my sore back. My swollen muscles were screaming, as they were forced strait. A small cry of pain escaped my lips when we finally hit the end of my restrains, my arms painfully stretched out as far as they'd go above my head. I barely had time to resister what was happening before he'd let go of my legs and moved up next to my extended body. He grabbed a hold of the hem of my shirt and with one swift movement he pulled it up towards my head, exposing my torso.

"What are you doi…?" I didn't get to finish before he pulled the shirt over my head and up my arms. He couldn't get the shirt completely of off me without removing the handcuffs though, so he left it lying in a bundle around my hands. I eyed him worriedly, feeling beyond uncomfortable. He seemed to have got caught up in his thoughts as he studied my upper body. Meanwhile all kinds of horrible things he could do to me flashed through my mind. He wasn't gonna…? Was he? He wouldn't… right?

I soon realized that unfortunately he would, as he started to unzip my jeans. I quickly twisted my hip away from him though. He looked at me surprised.

"Please don't." I begged. He gave me a small smile when he saw the fear in my eye.

"It's okay." He said. "We're not gonna hurt you. Right Tess?" I swallowed past the lump in my throat. The fact that he was a mad man talking to someone that wasn't here, made my hopes go out. I would never be able to stop him and the chances of him listening to me would be equal to none, but this still didn't prevent me from at least trying.

He took a steady grip of my hip and forced it back down.

"Please…" I desperately struggled to get my hands free to stop him from continuing. "Please." The first few tears of the many to come started to streak down my face, knowing that I had no other choice than to go through this. He put his knee on the top of my thighs, preventing me from pulling my legs up as he undid my pants.

"No…please." I continued to beg, without any results. "Please…"

"It's not going to be that bad." Mark reassured as he pulled down my pants as far as they'd go before the chain tying my ankles together stopped them. Thankfully he left the boxers on, for now at least "…you might even enjoy it…" He mumble as he reached for the bucket he'd put next to me.

I shook my head 'no', crying now. "Please…don't do…this." My voice was shaking as I tried to get the words out in between the sobs that had started to come. "I can't … take it." It was true. If he went any further he would destroy what was left of me. "Please…don't"

He sighed, looking at me. A flash of pity passed his eyes.

"I really don't see what you're getting so upset about." He was sitting on the floor next to me. "I'm not gonna hurt you. There's really no reason for you to cry." Leaning forward, he tried to wipe away a few tears from my cheek. I turned my head away from him, not wanting him to touch me. He'd probably meant to calm me down by the gesture, but at the moment it had quite the opposite effect on me.

"L..l..leave me alone, please." I stuttered.

"But this is for your own good…" he tried to reason.

"No…it's not…" I said, hoping that he somehow would listen to me. He turned to the bucket again and fished up a soaking wet rag from it. With both hands he squeezed the majority of the water out of it, before placing it on my chest. I tensed as the wet rag came in contact with my bare skin. He gently rubbed the dirt and the dry blood off my chest.

"What are you doing?" I asked confused, raising my head slightly, tears still coming from my eyes.

"I'm cleaning you up, boy." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You're a real mess… and some of these wounds need to be taken care of if you don't want them to get infected…"

"Is that all?" He gave me a questioning look before answering.

"Yes, why?"

I didn't answer, instead I sighed letting my head fall back to the floor. Relieved that his intentions weren't what I'd thought they were. I closed my eyes, the sobs dying out slowly. It was still hard to breathe properly though. The shock of what I thought he was gonna do to me lingered in my body for quite some time and I couldn't relax fully.

After a moment of silence Mark cleared his throat.

"What did he do to you?" He asked soaking the rag in the warm water again. I swallowed, thinking about what had just happened hours earlier.

"He…he pulled me behind the car." I said, staring at the ceiling as I waited for his response. He shook his head slightly.

"I'm sorry Jack. I never meant for you to get hurt." He said truthfully. "Alan has some problems controlling his anger sometimes. You have to forgive him; otherwise we're never going to work as a family." I looked at him sceptically, not believing what I'd just heard. "And you have to admit, it was partly your own fault. Alan's just trying to teach you that you really belong here with us."

"What?!" I exclaimed, before I was able to stop myself. "I don't belong with you. I belong with my family and friends…"

"But we are your family and we care about you." He looked upset, as he continued to clean me up.

"Care about me?! Look what he did to me…look what you're doing to me!" I jerked on the handcuffs a little for emphases. It's been a while since I'd been brave (or foolish) enough to speak up like this to him. But at that moment I was mad. "If you'd cared about me you wouldn't have killed Kim! If you'd cared you would've let me go home!"

"But you are home." He argued, grinding his teeth a little. I didn't notice though.

"No, I'm not. I ne…"

"YES, YOU ARE!" He screamed, cutting me off. The fear immediately filled me again, believing that I'd triggered Alan to come out. "You are home if I say so!" He was leaning over me, making me cringe. "And you're never going to leave us again, EVER!"

Seeming to have let all his anger out, he continued to clean my now trembling body, without saying another word. I remained silent too, realizing they had no intentions of letting me go, and after all my attempts to leave they'll probably gonna make sure that I never get another chance again. I closed my eyes. My only hope now was if there was someone who cared enough to rescue me…

Mark cleaned my upper body and my legs and knees, before moving up to my arms and head. The warm feeling it provided me was almost nice, even though occasionally it would sting when the rag came in contact with an open wound. My swollen arm hurt the most and I was grateful he was being extra careful cleaning that area. Once he was done cleaning, he applied some gels and other antiseptic stuff, which he took out from the plastic bag he'd brought earlier. I didn't bother to ask what it was since he probably wouldn't give me any answer anyway. On some of the bigger wounds he put on bandages, like the ones on my elbow and my knees. He then pulled my pants back on and was about to do the same with my shirt, when something stopped him. He traced his fingers gently over the injury the ricochets had caused me. Without a word he stood up and I could finally relax, believing this was over. And it hadn't been that bad actually. I couldn't have been more wrong though.

Looking up at the ceiling I heard him coming back to me again. I shot him a sideways look and my eyes immediately widened.

"No please!" I tried to inch away from him, but the chains kept me in place. The tears found their way back again as I watch in terror Mark crouching next to me. The things he'd brought with him, made me shake with fear. "Please…" I struggled to get free, ignoring the pain that was pulsing through my body.

Mark put the things down on the floor next to me. I swallowed, nervously eying the items. It was a leather belt, a couple of tweezers, a few cloths and the most disturbing of them all – a knife. I felt my heart rate increase, as my imagination was running wild with all the horrifying things he might do with all of that.

Before I had time to react Mark grabbed a hold of my body and turned me, so I was lying on my left side with my injured arm in the air. Pushing me as far away as possible from the wall, he made sure I had as good as no possibility to move my arms as they were stretched out to the max. He then sat down on top of my ribcage, almost knocking the air out of me when doing so. I hysterically tried to get free, but soon realized that it was impossible. I continued to struggle though, for each try I was becoming weaker, which caused the tears to well up until I couldn't hold it together anymore and I broke down crying again.

"Please…" I sobbed. "…leave me alone…"

Mark wrapt the leather belt around my right arm, before tightening it right above my injury. He then started to push and squeeze my arm with his fingers, almost as if he was trying to pop a zit, ignoring my cries of pain. Pausing for a moment he mumbled.

"I know Tess… but it's necessary." In the corner of my eye I saw him holding up the knife. "No!" I cried. "..Don't…Please!" Panicking I tried to get up, using all the strength I had. The more I tried though, the harder he pushed me down. I pulled my legs up, trying to get him off of me, without any success. "…please no…"

Mark finally had enough and slammed me back down onto my back, before putting a hand over my mouth while his other was holding the knife against my throat. I stopped struggling, breathing heavily, Mark still sitting on top of me.

"Now Jack, I'm going to make sure this gets done, whether you like it or not." He said pushing me down against the floor. "And if you're gonna keep fighting me I'm gonna need to get Alan to help me. And trust me he wont be as gentle as I." Slowly he removed his hand from my mouth. "Are we clear?"

"Yes…" I answered shakily. Mark quickly got both me and himself in position again. I kept still this time, crying from fear of what he was gonna do to me. Knowing I would have to let him do it, otherwise Alan would show up and everything would be ten times worse.

"Now where were we?" He said. "Oh right you are Tess." He grabbed one of the cloths and shoved it into my mouth, half of it was left hanging outside though. "You probably wanna bite down on that one." I choked on it and my first reaction was to spit it back out, but he kept a firm hold over my mouth to prevent me from doing so. "Keep it and you'll do us both a favour. Trust me"

I did, but only so that he would remove his hand. I had no intentions of keeping it any longer that necessary. But before I had the time to even try to get it out, he had brought the knife to my poorly healed wounds and started to cut right trough them, reopening them. I screamed at the top of my lungs as he carved his way deeper into my flesh. My screams were muffled by the cloth that filled my mouth though and they didn't stop Mark from continuing. The excruciating pain caused the tears to pour out of my eyes as I sobbed loudly. Mark had started to dig around in the wounds with the tweezers and pretty soon, he found the first small shot. The blood was running down my arm and landed on my face underneath it. I bit down on the rag in my mouth, now grateful that I had it, as Mark started to dig for yet another shot.

The torture continued for almost half an hour, leaving me completely drained from energy. I was shaking violently when Mark finally wrapt the bandage around my arm, before pulling my shirt back on again. My eyes were probably red and swollen and my cheeks were completely soaked with tears as I lay there panting so hard that I started to feel dizzy.

Mark began to clean up around me and put some more wood on the fire, making sure it wasn't going to die out anytime soon. I was still crying as I tried to get rid of the cloth in my mouth. Sniffing, I carefully pushed myself with my legs closer to the wall, to ease the tension in my arms. I knew that he'd probably made me a favour when he got rid of all the ammunition that had been lingered in my arm and cleaned the rest of the wounds. It was just the way he'd done it that had shocked me. I felt violated by his actions. I let out a sob as I thought of what had just happened. My arm was hurting so bad after the rough treatment it suffered, that all the other pain in my body faded.

In an attempt to calm down I inhaled deeply. The air never had the chance to get to the bottom of my lungs though, until I had to interrupt the breath as new sobs forced themselves out. This fight to calm down continued for several minutes. I went inside of myself, trying to hide from the world that only was out to hurt me. By doing so I completely lost track of time and what was going on around me.

It wasn't until Mark took hold of my legs and pulled my body in a ninety degree angle from where I'd lay previously, placing me parallel to the wall, that I snapped back to reality. Still chained to the wall, I lay facing my restrains. My hands were in about the same level as my face, with not more then about five inches of chain to move around in. I leaned my head closer to the wall so that I for the first time in several hours was able to wipe away my tears. New ones kept coming though. I searched my hairline with my fingertips. I whimpered when I found what I was looking for. The cut was much larger than I expected it to be. The realization caused me to sob again. I felt sorry for myself, that's something I never really done before or thought that I would ever do, but I couldn't help myself..

I really tried hard to accept the fact that I might never gonna go home again. It turned out to be impossible though. I had to go back; otherwise I might as well die…

"Found this in the car." Mark's deep voice came from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. "I think it belongs to you." He threw Kim's cardigan to me. It landed right on my hands. I grabbed it and hugged it tightly, needing all the comfort I could get.

Behind me I could hear Mark, getting ready to sleep, while I continued to cry hopelessly. Just before going to bed, he walked over to me, and placed a blanket on top of me.

"I'm really tired Jack and I want to sleep, so no more whining or whimpering. Is that understood?" He said.

"Yes…" I sniffed.

"And no sniffing." He turned off the light and climbed up in his bed. I tried my best to keep the crying to a minimum. It was hard though. I was forced to lay on my injured arm, and the throbbing pain was driving me crazy. After an hour of battling the seemingly never-ending tears and sobs I finally fell asleep…

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I stirred, the faint sound of someone crying reached my ears. I was warm, almost too warm. Opening my eyes to the complete darkness, I felt something resting on me. The 'thing' moved suddenly. I froze as my senses took in the information about what was going on around me. The sobs were really close. In fact they were just behind my ear and I could feel the weeping person breathing on the back of my neck, just as clear as I could feel their body pressed up against mine. Realizing that the person must be Mark and that he was at that moment crying, lying under my blanket and hugging me from behind, I was suddenly wide awake.

"I'm scared Jack…" He sniffed, crying into my shoulder and tightening his grip around me. His voice sounded childish and the behaviour wasn't like him at all. Not really knowing how to deal with the situation, I kept still, pretending I was still asleep.

"I saw him Jack." He whimpered. "He's coming to get me. Please do something. Jack, wake up." He shook me weakly. Now I really didn't know what to do. "Jack." He tried again.

"…yeah…" I mumbled after some hesitation.

"Jack, he's coming."

"Who?" I wondered, not entirely sure I wanted to know.

"The big monster." He whispered. "…with the big glowing eyes and the honking horn." I frowned; what was he taking about? This was so out of character for both Mark and Alan. Was it possible that there was a third person? Come to think of it, he had acted really strange the night before… His behaviour had been very childish and too friendly… Back then I'd thought that he was just fooling around with me, but now I wasn't so sure.

"Who are you?" I asked, still staring into the wall.

"My name is Tess."

I sighed. O'boy…

"No one is coming." I reassured. "And if they do… I'll protect you…" Can't believe I just said that. I just wanted to calm him (or her) down so that we could go back to sleep. I didn't really care about protecting him from anybody, besides I wouldn't be able to even if I wanted, being in an even more helpless position then him…

"You promise?" His voice didn't sound so sad any longer.

"Yes, I promise." I answered, hoping that he would go back to his bed and for this awkward moment to be over. He was silent for a while, making me think that he'd fallen asleep.

"Tess?" It was really weird calling him that.

"…Mmm…" I didn't like to have him so close.

"You should go back to bed." I said. "It was probably just a nightmare…"

"Jack?" He said in a sweet voice.

"Yes"

"Can I sleep down here with you?" I swallowed. I didn't want to sleep next to the most dangerous man I knew. What if he would wake up as Alan and find himself on the floor, holding me? At the same time I didn't wanna upset Tess, remembering all to well what happened last time I did that…

"Are you sure you want that?" I asked. "I mean the bed's way more comfortable and warmer."

"Yes I'm sure" He said, hugging me even tighter. I held back a moan as my bruised body was being squeezed. "You're safer and you smell so good, besides you're a lot warmer and cozier than the bed." He said, cuddling his face down in the back of my neck, making me feel very uncomfortable. I inched away from him and closer to the wall, to no use really, since he followed.

"Tess?" I started, trying to keep myself from freaking out. "I don't think Mark would approve of this."

"Why not? He's the one who brought you to me." I tensed at the disturbing answer, beginning to understand what this was all about.

"Tess…would you please tell me why I'm here?"

"You're here because I love you, and we belong to each other." It took me a moment to comprehend what he -or she actually- had said.

"What about your revenge on me?" I asked nervously, not liking where the conversation was going.

"What revenge?"

"The one Alan was talking about. Isn't that the reason you took me and…" I still had trouble saying this out loud. "…killed Kim?"

"Don't know what you're talking about. I've never killed anybody." Right…forgot I was talking to Tess…

"Sorry…" I muttered. "It was Alan who did it…" I corrected myself. "But I wanna know why. What did I do to deserve that?"

"Like I said, I have no clue what you're talking about. All I know is that you're the cutest boy _evaaa_." He shrieked in delight and before I knew it his hand had made it up to my chest as he leaned over me and kissed my cheek, his stubble scratching my skin.

"What are you doing?!" I jerked away from him. Unfortunately there was almost no room between me and the wall and pretty soon I found myself pressed up against it. His grip of me had loosened as he hadn't expected me to move away. He made an attempt to close the gap between us again.

"Stay away from me!" I demanded, hiding my face in Kim's sweater.

"Why?" He wondered, hurt clearly showing in his voice.

"Because, I don't want you to touch me."

"Why?"

"Just because." I said more sternly, wishing he/she would listen. "Now go back to bed. Please."

"…Okay…see you tomorrow…" He said to my surprise and relief. But before he left, I felt his fingers running through my hair, sending unpleasant shivers down my back.

Once he finally was back in his bed, I relaxed and pushed myself out from the wall again. He had brought the blanket with him by accident while he stood up and it was now lying in a pile on the floor next to me. It was impossible for me to reach it though, the handcuffs not allowing me to move my hands more than four or five inches from the wall. Sighing, I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. It wasn't easy though. The pain in my right arm was back and being deprived of my only source of warmth I was now freezing. Not to mention the creepy way Mark had acted, which was really freaking me out and had left my head full of unanswered questions…

* * *

I'd been awake for a while, listening to Mark or whoever he happens to be at the moment, eating breakfast. I was hungry, but I didn't know if I'd be lucky enough to get anything to eat and I didn't dare to ask.

Thankfully Mark came over with a plate carrying two sandwiches, though. He placed it next to my hands, just close enough for me to reach it. He didn't say anything; instead he sat down on the edge of the bed, watching me. I hesitantly took one of the sandwiches and slowly started to eat, trying to ignore Mark hovering above me.

It was pretty hard to eat from a lying position, but the chains were too short to allow me to bring the food to my mouth if I held my head any higher.

Once I was done, Mark took the plate again.

"That a boy." He smiled, before taking off with the dishes. Silence filled the room for a while, but it wasn't awkward, in fact it was almost peaceful and Mark seemed to be pretty relaxed.

I rolled over on my back as far as the handcuffs allowed me, turning my head so that I could see Mark. He'd sat down by the table with a cup of coffee in his hand and was now reading the newspaper. I didn't know if it would be safe for me to ask, but I've been thinking about the whole 'Tess incident' all morning. Mark had become her too, but I knew that Tess was a real person. I've met her myself. So why was he talking to her when she wasn't here and even more disturbing, why was he acting like he was her?

I finally brought up the courage and opened my mouth.

"What happened to her, Mark?" He looked up from the newspaper and gave me a questioning look, causing a nervous feeling to stir in my guts. I pushed the feeling aside though and asked again, slightly louder this time. "What happened to Tess?"

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**So what did you think guys?**

**I'm probably not gonna be able to put the next chapter up until next year... So I wanna wish you all a**

**Happy New Year:)**

**Of course there'll be sneak peeks of the next chapter for those of you who review:)**

**/MJ**


	22. Another Side of Mark

**AN/ Hi chapter 22 is here! **

**I wanna say thanks to datgirl1065, StupidlyGenius, Bluedog270, TeddyBear98, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWast ed, We are all Imperfect, September14Fall, hgirl, StripedFuzzySocks, lovinbooks10, aligning street lights, PurplePancakes, KyannA, Pinkrocker12, Guest, Bad1027, Dreaming2BAWriter, secrets xx, MrsCharlieAckles, XMusicIsMyReligion, 1379, Randomgirl111111, 88Keys, 10pandasrule10, Dachshundlover3, Awriter'sthoughts, Penguinlover3333.  
Your reviews mean a lot:)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 22

**Another ****side**** of Mark **

**Kim's pov.**

I watched the familiar houses passing by outside the window, as we were driving along the road. The morning had seemed to never end, before I was finally allowed to leave the hospital. Even now everything was taking such a long time. I mean I don't think I can recall dad ever driving so slowly…

It was almost 11 o'clock now, and I've lost a couple of valuable hours already. I hadn't told anyone, but I was determined to continue my search for Jack in any way possible. Even if I was hurt and needed time to heal, I wasn't intending on to just sit around and wait to see what happens…

And I knew exactly where I should start. The tricky part was to keep my little secret from my parents though. They would stop me immediately if they knew, considering that I almost got killed in my last attempt of playing detective. But I didn't feel like I had a choice. I had to do it…for Jack. My stomach turned when I thought about him. I hoped with all my heart that he was still alive.

"…do you think Kim?" Mum said, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, what?"

"Do you want anything to eat now or do you want to wait a couple of hours?" She asked from the passenger seat.

"I'm not that hungry at the moment." I answered truthfully, as dad finally turned the last corner before you could see our house.

"Okay. Then I can do some errands before I'll prepare dinner. I need to return Mrs Martinez giant glass bowl I borrowed for thanksgiving, then I need to call Uncle Ray…" She mumbled, mainly to remind herself. It was an old habit she had. Her words died out, before she turned in her seat eyeing me. "Is there anything you need?" She asked just as dad parked the car on our driveway.

"Not really…" I shook my head.

"Are you feeling alright?" She nodded towards my injury on which I had rested my hand on without even noticing it.

"Yeah I'm fine." I said, unbuckling myself before jumping out of the car. It hurt to move, but I was determined not to show it. "Hey um… could I come with you to the Martinez?" I asked as soon as we all were out of the car. Mum gave me a wary look.

"Are you sure you're feeling good enough to do that?"

"Yes. Like I said, I'm feeling fine and it's Sunday. I don't have anything else to do anyway and I wanna meet Jerry." She looked at me in silence for a moment, as to decide what to do. I knew she was thinking about the fact that the Martinez family practically lived next door to Mark. She was probably worried about what would happen if I showed up by the crime scene again. Frankly I was a little worried myself, but I couldn't let an opportunity like this go to waste. In fact this was way better then the plan I had thought out myself.

"Okay." She said finally. "Maybe it'll be good for you to meet some friends." I smiled.

"Great, I'm just gonna leave Grace a message." I said. "I promised, I would do that once I got home."

"You do that." She smiled at me. "I have some things to take care of myself…We'll leave in about thirty minutes or so." We had made it to the porch now waiting for dad to unlock the door. In his hand, the bag containing my medicines and belongings hung.

"I can take care of that." I said, grabbing it, without him taking greater notice of it.

Once inside I hurried up to my room. Without hesitation I turned the bag upside down, letting its contents fall onto my bed. Throwing all the medical care stuff aside, I quickly found what I was looking for…

The people back at the hospital had emptied all the pockets of my clothes and put all my belongings in the bag for safe keeping. Nelly's scissors were among them, but it was the small crinkled up piece of paper that caught my attention. I unfolded it and found to my relief that it was Tess's letter to Jack. I had been worried that I'd lost it or that the police would've confiscated it, but strangely enough I still had it. I hadn't told anyone about it though, so there was really no reason for people to ask about it.

I shoved the letter in my jeans pocket before grabbing my phone to text Grace.

'_I'm back from the hospital. I'm fine. Wont be home until later…_

_ttyl_

_/ Kim'_

I sat down on the bed. Yawning, I realized that I was pretty tired. The past couple of days had really been exhausting for both mind and body. I wasn't gonna let that stop me though.

My plan had been to call Nelly once I was home, but by coincident I've got the opportunity to visit her. Of course no one knew that it was her that I really wanted to talk to, and not Jerry. She was the one who had given me the information I needed to find Jack last time and I had a feeling she was the key to finding him again. I just hoped that I was right… If I wasn't, then I had no idea of what to do…

* * *

I was eager to get inside of the Martinez house. Trying my best to ignore the house cordoned off with police tape, just a hundred yards down the block, I listen anxiously for the footsteps that were approaching the door from the inside. I hoped that no cop or anyone else working on the case down the road would notice that I was there. The last thing I wanted was for any of them to come up and ask me questions. I could feel that my mum was pretty tense too, probably for the same reason as I was…

"Oh, Hi Mrs Crawford…and Kim." It was Jerry who had opened the door. He seemed surprised to see me there. "I didn't know you were out of the hospital already." He said with a smile.

"Who is it Jerry?!" A voice with a Spanish accent yelled from inside.

"It's just Kim and her mum!" Jerry yelled back over his shoulder.

"Then for Christ sake let them in." The voice was closer now and it didn't take long until Mrs Martinez came into view. She smiled welcoming at us and shoved Jerry aside so we could get in.

"Hi" Mum said. "I hope we're not showing up in a bad time? We were just going to return this." She held up the bowl.

"Not at all. C'mon in." Mrs Martinez gestured for us to get further into that house.

"Jerry, can I talk to you for a moment?" I asked, pushing him aside.

"Sure." He shrugged, now interested in what I had to say. I gave him a look and a nod, meaning that I wanted to talk somewhere more private. Lucky for me Jerry actually caught that. "C'mon Kim I've got something to show you." He said in pretty loud and clumsy way, so that our mothers would hear us. I rolled my eyes. It was so obvious that he just made that up as an excuse for us to leave. But at least he tried and I appreciated that. Besides our moms were too busy talking that I don't think they noticed. We quickly made our way passed them and up to his room.

The room was a mess as usual… I briefly wondered if he could find anything in here at all. He closed the door behind us, before literally diving in under the bed. I looked at him surprised. That was strange even for Jerry…

Before I got the chance to ask what was going on, he had already emerged from under the bed with a satisfied look on his face. He quickly noticed the way I was looking at him.

"In this house, you never know who's watching you." He explained, whispering. I just rolled my eyes at him. He sat down on the edge of his bed, watching me.

"So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" He asked eagerly.

"Actually…" I started. "I wanted to talk to Nelly…" I paused, to read his expression. He looked a little disappointed. "You can hear too." I quickly added.

"Sweet." His face lit up, resting his elbows on his knees. After a moment of him just sitting there looking at me I said;

"Well, is she here somewhere?"

"Oh right…" He got to his feet and headed out the door. "C'mon." I followed him till we came to a door furthest down the hallway. Just before we reached it Jerry turned to me, a serious look on his face.

"Everyone knows you've been shot and had to get to the hospital. But no one knows exactly what happened and who did it." He explained, while whispering. "I know that it was Mark Greene, only because Eddie told me so." There was an uncertain tone in his voice as if he still wasn't sure that he'd got the facts straight.

"Yes, it was him." I confirmed a little confused why he would bring that up?

"The thing is that Mark is Tess's father…and Tess was a friend of Nelly…" He trailed of.

"You don't want me to tell her it was him." I stated. "Don't worry I won't." I reassured, receiving a relieved smile from the dark haired boy in front of me. To be honest I didn't mind to keep it a secret, since telling her could possibly be a bump in the road to the small 'interrogation' I was planning on doing…

Jerry turned around and threw the door open without knocking, receiving a death glare from his sister.

"How many times do I have to tell you; to not burst into my room without my permission?!" She was mad I could tell. Jerry just shrugged, not really paying any attention to what she'd just said. Stepping inside he got out of my way and I could now see Nelly sitting by her desk, writing. I figured she was probably doing her homework or something. Her expression immediately changed when she saw me.

"Hi Kim." She looked surprised but glad. "I didn't know you were here."

"Hey" I flashed a smile, feeling a little uncertain where to start.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Fine. A little sore that's all." I said closing the door behind me. There was a moment of awkward silence in the room, no one really knowing what to say. Jerry and Nelly exchanged a glance before she spoke up.

"We heard the shots." I just looked at her, still not sure of what to say. "I was down watching TV…The first one wasn't so loud though, but when we heard the second shot, we all got really scared. Dad looked out the window and saw you running down the street… Of course he didn't know it was you… It was pretty dark…" I nodded, knowing what she meant. "He was about to run outside… but we stopped him …" She was looking down. "Sorry about that, but we just didn't wanted him to get hurt." Jerry watched me with interest. He had been unusually quiet. Maybe he was scared that he would say something he would regret. Jerry wasn't that good with keeping secrets. "We saw you jump into that car just a moment after and figured that we couldn't do much more to help..." She continued. "Dad called the cops…" Silence was once again filling the air, before I had processed everything she'd said.

"You all did the right thing." I said, smiling weakly. I know what I said was true, but a part of me was really upset and almost mad that they hadn't done anything. I came out of it alright, but with some help Jack could have too… Jack… I needed to stay focus. There were a lot of questions I needed answers to, but before I managed to say anything Nelly was already questioning me out.

"Did you see the man that shot you?" Jerry gave me an anxious look and I quickly shook my head.

"No, I didn't."

"What were you doing in our neighbourhood?" She asked, causing me to hesitate. I wasn't prepared for any of these questions. In fact I was the one who should do the questioning, but now it was like yesterday's interrogation was repeating itself all over again.

"I was on my way over here to return your scissors." I said, reminding myself that I actually had them in my pocket. I pulled them out. "You forgot them in the dojo." I said, handing them to her.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Hey, I was wondering if I could look at your scrapbook again."

"Sure, they're over there." She pointed at the bookshelf right next to her desk. I looked to where she pointed just to realize that there seven of them. I didn't know which of them she had brought to the dojo earlier. Noticing my hesitation, Nelly jumped out of the chair and walked up to the book shelf. "This one is from our family vacation last year." She pointed at a red book that was standing furthers to the left. "And this one is mostly family pictures, and that one is full of school stuff and pictures of my friends. And this one over here is from this sum…" I stopped listen to her, already knowing which book possibly contained the information I needed. Eyeing the light blue one I asked.

"Is it okay if I look in this one?" I'd placed my fingers on the one that was filled with pictures of her friends.

"Sure." She shrugged. "Some of the pages aren't so good though. I had a hard time deciding what colours to use on the…" Again I zoomed her out, as I with interest opened the scrapbook I was now holding in my hands.

I quickly went through the pages until I found what I was looking for. The page only had one photo, but was filled with decorations of stars and a moon. The picture showed three girls in their pyjamas all cuddled up in a sofa with popcorn in their hands. The picture itself wasn't so interesting… It was the red head slightly taller girl sitting in the middle that had caught my attention.

"That is from the sleepover at Tess's place." Nelly explained, when she noticed me looking with interest at the photo. "There are a few more pictures from that evening in there…"

I looked carefully at it. The fact that it was taken in the house that would haunt me forever got me even more curious. A sudden sigh reached my ears.

"Is this all you're gonna do? Go through Nelly's pictures?" Jerry asked a little bored. "Let me know when you're done talking…" He said, before heading for the door. I don't know why he lost his interest so suddenly. But on the other hand, maybe it was good that he left, since again he's not that good with keeping secrets…

I turned to Nelly again after Jerry had left the room.

"What movie did you watch?" I asked, noticing the annoyed look on Tess's face in the picture.

"I don't really remember… Some romance stuff I think…" She said. "Of course Tess wasn't so happy about that…" A faint smile appeared on her lips at the memory. "She was mainly into action movies with a lot of fighting and stuff." I raised an eyebrow.

"Was she into martial arts?" I asked.

"Well I guess… I mean she never did take any lessons…but she talked about it a lot. She and her dad used to go and watch all these tournaments, especially when you guys were competing." I looked up at her. There was something in the way she'd said that that made me think that there was a little bit more to that story. I turned the page, just to find five more photos taken at the sleepover. Four of the pictures were taken in a girl's bedroom. Nelly, Tess and a third girl were hanging out, laughing and goofing around. I figured that the room must be Tess's.

"She seemed like a nice girl." I said.

"Yeah she was…I miss her so much…" Nelly said quietly. I almost didn't hear her as something had caught my attention. I was a little surprised that I hadn't seen that immediately. It was mostly on one picture that you could see it clearly. Tess was sitting on her bed doing a funny face that would have made me laugh on any other day. But I didn't pay any attention to her, because on the wall above her bed there were- not just one- but _nine _pictures of the brown haired boy that meant more to me than anything in this world… Some of the photos were taken at tournaments others seemed to have been taken in…school?

"Is that…Jack?" I asked even though I was positive it was. I would have recognized him anywhere. Nelly gave me a quick glance.

"Yeah…" I think she was trying to read me, not knowing how I would take this information. "Tess had a major crush on him…" She explained.

"Oh…" was all I managed to get out. I had somewhat known this. I mean it was pretty obvious back at the tournament… but still, hearing someone confirm it stunned me a little.

"That was kind of the main reason why she was so into martial arts…"

'…_and the reason they took Jack_…' I thought to myself.

"Did her father know about that?" I asked after composing myself from the minor shock. "About Jack, I mean."

"Yes he did. Tess loved her father and they were really close. She told him everything… Sometimes I wish I had a father like him." She said. _'No you don't'_ I thought giving her a weird look. But of course she didn't know what he'd done so… "Mark did everything for his daughter. It's like he dedicated his life for her… Ever since the accident I rarely see him anymore…" She trailed of thinking. I was silent too for a while. She had given me so much information already. "I'm worried about him. There have been police cars around his house all weekend…No one tells me what's going on though. Dad tried to talk to the police just to see if Mark's okay, but they won't say a thing…" I stood there looking at her, not knowing what to say. The fact that there would be someone there to worry and care about Mark had never crossed my mind. All I could feel when I thought about him was hatred. I couldn't care less about what happened to him as long as he stayed away from Jack and me. He might as well go and die. In fact I kind of wanted him to do that, preferably slowly and not without feeling at least a tenth of all the pain and fear he caused both me and Jack…

"Do you think Mark was involved in the shooting?" Nelly's question made me snap out of my dark thoughts. Her voice was filled with concern. Once again I was dumbfounded.

"I don't know." I said simply, mainly because I didn't know what to answer… Refocusing on the scrapbook, I turned the pages. I wasn't good at lying and she probably would have seen right through me if I'd kept eye contact with her.

We were both silent until I was almost at the end of the book. There was one last set of photos, all taken around the same time. Tess and Nelly were on the most of them, but there was also a tall ginger haired man with green eyes on three of the pictures. I instantly recognized him, even though he had a different hair colour now.

"Where is this?" I asked, seeing that the photos weren't taken any place I knew.

"That is in the cabin Mark's old uncle owns. His uncle never goes there after an accident that forced him to quit hunting and fishing… Mark and Tess went there all the time though. I've been there twice." She pointed at one of the pictures showing a soaking wet Mark with a huge smile on his face. "That was just after we've been down by the lake. We we're sitting at the dock, fishing. Tess got a bit bored and decided to push him in." She smiled a little at the memory. "He laughed so hard at that…" It was hard for me to picture Mark as a playful and loving father. In fact it was almost impossible even though I had the pictures to prove it. It felt like we were talking about a completely different person.

I turned to the last page. A picture of Nelly and Tess sitting around a small kitchen table eating and laughing, filled most of the page. Behind them there was a window that revealed the green forest outside. Nelly had decorated the page with some stickers and a cut out map. I could easily find Seaford. Someone (probably Nelly) had drawn a really tortuous line from 'point to point'.

"What's this?" I asked.

"Oh, that is the map to the cabin. I sort of like to do that… sometime in the future I might wanna go back and visit all those places." She shrugged. 'The future might be closer than you think', I thought. I knew that I wanted to go there right now.

"How far is that?" I asked, completely focused on the map.

"To the cabin? I don't know really… but it takes a couple of hours to get there… Once you get here…" She placed her finger on a spot where the line made a sharp turn upwards. "You turn left and head basically right out in the forest. The way is hard to see and almost too small for a vehicle to drive through…but that's the only way to get there. The cabin is about 4-5 miles further up that path…"

I studied the map, trying to memorize it. Somehow I knew that this was important information. I needed to go there. Who knows what might be hidden in that cabin? Of course I was hopping that Jack would be there. My mind told me that he probably wasn't though, but I was sure that the place held some major clues that would bring me closer to him…

Speaking of clues... I remembered the letter I'd carried with me. Nelly watched me with interest as I pulled the piece of paper out of my pocket and handed it to her.

"Does this mean anything to you?" I asked, as I waited for her to read through it. The letter was signed Tess, although I wasn't sure it was from her... After a few seconds Nelly shook her head.

"This is not from Tess...or at least not that Tess." She gestured towards the scrapbook I still held in one of my hands. "Mark doesn't own a company...and never had. He's a janitor down by the mall... and this is not her handwriting..." She said, confirming my suspicions.

"Kim?" Our heads whipped around to see Jerry standing in the doorway. "Your mum says it's time for you to leave and Nelly…" He turned his attention to her. "It's time for dinner."

She gave me back the letter as I put the scrapbook down on the desk before we started to leave the room. I was the last one out. Just before I reached the door I stopped, pulling my phone out of my pocket. I threw a quick glance at the backs of Jerry and Nelly who didn't seem to notice I wasn't following them anymore. I hesitated slightly before I quickly spun around and headed back to the desk. I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, eying the scrapbook that was lying there, even though Nelly probably wouldn't mind. I just didn't want anyone to know about this… With one swift movement I turned up the page with the map and quickly took a picture of it with my phone, before closing the book and hurrying back out.

No one seemed to have noticed that I was a little behind. Reaching the bottom floor I saw mum already standing by the door, ready to leave. Jerry and Nelly were there too ready to say goodbye.

"Well, see you at school." I said to Jerry and Nelly before leaving their house. "Bye"

"Bye Kim" Both of them said in unison.

The visit had gone better than I'd expected. I've gotten so much information…Mark, Tess and the cabin was on my mind on our whole way home. I knew I had to go there and I also knew someone that might be able to get me there. Slowly a plan was starting to take form in my head. I just prayed to God that I was on the right track; if not…then I don't know what to do…

* * *

**So what did you think? **

**If you don't remember what the letter says, then you can go back and read it in chapter 4 or 11.**

**Please don't forget to review. There'll be a sneak peek, as usual:)**

**/MJ**


	23. Their Stories

**AN/ Hi... I'm so sorry for taking so long to update. I'd meant for this chapter to be up much sooner, but one of my horses got really sick, so sick we thought we were gonna lose him. I'm pretty sure he saw the light before he decided to come back to us... He's much better now, but still pretty weak though... So I've spend a lot of time with him out in the barn these past few days...**

**This chapter is pretty long and it will reveal a lot of things and I hope that'll make it up for the long wait.**

**Thanks to datgirl1065, pinkrocker, taylorusmyidol12, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWast ed, September14Fall, Dreaming2BAWriter, Randomgirl111111, MrsCharlieAckles, StripedFuzzySocks, Kendra, hgirl, Guest, Anonymously Truthful, Bluedog270, AbberzZzCain, Guest, krc93, Jackkim, Penquinlover3333, Guest, XMusicIsMyReligionX, thunderrussian, 1379, sad-beautiful-tradgic, Guest, 10pandasrule10, Parisbabe224, 88Keys, TeddyBear98 and NaturallyWritten. **

**Your reviews means a lot:)**

**disclaimer: I do not own Kickin' it...**

* * *

Chapter 23

**Their**** Stories**

**Jack's pov.**

I finally brought up the courage and opened my mouth.

"What happened to her, Mark?" He gave me a questioning look. "What happened to Tess?"

He shifted in his seat. I could tell that he was uncomfortable with the question being asked. That worried me. What if I'd crossed the line?

"What do you mean boy?" He said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I mean…" I swallowed, unsure if I should continue. Maybe it was stupid to do that while being in this helpless position. But I really wanted to know, so I decided to take my chances. "…I've never seen her. Where is she?"

"She's right here." He said casually. "Can't you tell?" I shook my head barely noticeable, thinking he was nuts. Why did I even bother to try and talk to him?

"No…" I said quietly. Mark's face fell slightly as he studied me in silence for a while.

"You can't see or hear her, can you?" He said. There was a tone of disappointment and sadness in his voice.

"No I can't" I answered, looking up at him.

"Well that's a shame." He stated, staring out at nothing. "…umhum…maybe later Tess." He mumbled. I frowned, realizing that he- most likely- thought that he was talking to her. "What's she saying?" The sound of my voice made Mark turn his attention back to me.

"She wants us all to go down to the lake, like we used to…" He said. "She wants to show it to you Jack…That lake's her favourite place. She learned how to swim in it… We used to fish there too…One time Tess got a fish that weighed more than 6 pounds. She was so happy…" He smiled. "Her giggle… that's what use to make me smile…Once she starts you just can't help but laugh along with her. She reminds me so much of her mother…" I lay on the floor listening to his words. He was talking in a way I'd never heard before. His voice was full of warmth and… love? Whatever it was, it made me feel safer.

"Her mother?" I asked, trying to keep the conversation going. He's expression turned into a more serious one.

"Her name was Abigail…Wonderful woman…" He mumbled the last part. "I remember the first time I saw her. She was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen…I loved her playfulness and kindness, both of them were pasted onto Tess… I would literally do anything for that woman…" He paused. I was lying on my back, looking up at the ceiling while listening to his story. My left arm was resting on my chest, still secured to the wall that was currently on my right side. Mark talking about his wife made me think of Kim. I'd come to realize that she had been my world and still was… I would have done anything for her… and yet I hadn't been able to save her…I should have died for her… The thought about everything that had happened during the last days was almost too much for me and I would have broken into tears if Mark hadn't continued. Pushing my thoughts away I forced myself to concentrate on what Mark had to say. I didn't want to cry any more, I've done too much of that already…

"When Abigail left us, we were crushed." Mark continued. "I don't know if I could've handled it if it hadn't been for Alan coming to my rescue." I glanced at him again, curious to hear what he had to say about the part of himself that I hated the most. "He showed up for the first time in years…and just at the right time. It's strange how he seems to know when I'm in need of him..." He smiled a little. "I used to spend a lot of time with Alan when I was a child and I thought he was so great. I mean he was everything that I ever wanted to be. He always stood up for himself and me. Sometimes I just wished that I was more like him…" He smiled at his memories.

"I like you better." I said quietly. Not that I was very fond of Mark either but I preferred him in front of Alan. "Alan's just mean to me." Mark gave me a smile.

"I know Alan can be pretty rough…" He said. "When I started high school I began to realize that he did stuff that I had no control of. He got into fights and he broke the window to the principal's office…and one time he even stole money from a teacher." He talked about Alan with a mixture of friendliness and bitterness in his voice. "Of course I was the one to take the blame for all of that even if I hadn't even been on the scene… I mean how could I've done something I didn't even remember?" He sighed, before continuing. "Alan is a pretty caring person though and when the pressure became too much for me, he always took my place. He did most of the detention and stuff like that over the years… But even if he took care of most of the consequences of the things he'd done, people around me started to treat me differently. At first I didn't know why, but over time it became clearer to me that Alan lived in me and used my body to do whatever he wanted to do and people thought that I was the one doing all of those things… During the high school years I was sent to different therapists and psychologists to get rid of him. Trust me I didn't want him to be a part of me and I tried everything to make him disappear, but as you probably can imagine Alan wasn't being cooperative with the treatment and every new thing we tried, just led us into another dead end…" I shifted a little, my back feeling stiff, still listening to him. I'd figured out long ago that Mark was mentally ill, but it never crossed my mind that he actually suffered… I mean _really suffered_ from all of this.

"But then Abigail came along…" His expression turned into a friendlier one. "I was so happy around her that I didn't need Alan anymore and I saw and heard less and less from him until one day he had vanished from my life…It took almost ten years before I heard from him again. It was the same day Abigail left… At that point I was happy to see him though. He helped me through the crisis, along with Tess of course. But it didn't take long until he started to cause trouble again. Tess was the one to help me get rid of him that time…" He said proudly. "Tess's my everything. I don't know what to do without her." After a moment of thinking, he said, "The strange thing is that Alan came back about two weeks ago, after being gone for the last eight years. And he has already managed to get the police after me… I have no idea why he's back…" His voice died out as his mood changed, tears starting to form in his eyes. "I try and hold on to Tess, but it won't help to have her around…I don't know what t…" He sniffed, trying his best to keep it together.

"Maybe he's back because Tess's not really here." Stupid as I was, I didn't think of what I'd said before the words had already slipped out of my mouth. He threw me a glare as he jumped to his feet, dropping his cup of coffee to the floor and knocking the chair over. The sudden movement scared the heck out of me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" I started to try and get up, which turned out to be impossible with the handcuffs attached to the wall, holding me down. His face was red and his eyes were glazed over as he stood there watching me for a brief moment, before rushing out the door and slamming it shut behind him. I jumped by the sound. Thank God he didn't go for me…

I sighed, resting my head, now filled with Mark's story, back against the wooden floor. If I had gotten it right Alan had been in Mark's life ever since he was a child. Only appearing when Mark's going through rough times and disappears again when Mark is happy… Does that mean Mark had a really bad childhood? I didn't know, but I was positive that he was going through a crisis right now… and I was pretty sure Tess was involved in that somehow. Had she left too or was she even dead? And what had all of that to do with me? Why had he done this to me?

The Tess that lived inside Mark obviously liked me…way too much… The way he/she had acted the night before was down right creepy and I didn't know how much further he/she would go… Tess had told me she loved me and that that was the reason why I was here. I shuddered, remembering very vivid the feeling of his lips pressed up against my cheek.

On the other hand Alan had wanted to take his revenge out on me…and still I had no clue why…

I rolled over to my side again, facing the wall. It was all so confusing…

My eyes fell upon the light green piece of clothing lying in a bundle in front of me. It was strange how that thing would fill me with both comfort and distress every time I looked at it. I moved closer to it so that I would be able to rest my cheek against it. It was the only thing I had left from her and by having it near; I felt a little closer to her.

"I miss you Kim." I whispered. "I miss you so much" Sometimes it felt like she still was alive and everything was like it used to be back home. And as soon as I got out of here everything would go back to normal. But I knew in the back of my mind that that would never happen…. I missed all back home…I missed them a lot…and it pained me to death to know that I would never see the one I missed the most again… I took a deep shaky breath to keep myself from crying.

"It's ok Jack." My eyes widened by the sudden sound of that voice. It chanted like sweet music to my ears.

"Kim…?" I glanced over my shoulder, believing for a second that she was sitting next to me. But of course she wasn't there. That would be impossible. She was dead.

"I've got you Jack." I swear I could hear her voice clearly. Turning onto my back again, I tried to get a better view of the room. It was against the law of nature for Kim to be standing there. I knew that…but I couldn't help but feel disappointment weighing down like a rock to my chest, when I found the cabin empty. A tear escaped my eye. I was certain I'd heard her. How could I've been so wrong? Was I going crazy?

* * *

It was almost lunch time when Mark returned. The sound of the door opening, sent shivers down my spine and I unconsciously inched closer to the wall.

There was something on my mind that I had needed to tell Mark for a while now. Not wanting to ask this of him, even though I knew I would have to sooner or later, I had postponed it for as long as possible, but things had started to get pretty urgent... I just had to be sure that he was Mark and not Alan or Tess, before I opened mouth. Either one of them would probably be pretty bad…

I rolled onto my back, to be able to watch him. My movements caught his attention. He didn't look mad or annoyed with me and I was almost sure that he wasn't Alan. Nor was there any childishness in his eyes…

"Mark…?" I said uncertain.

"Yeah?" He watched me, making me lower my gaze and break the eye contact.

"I…" I swallowed, I really didn't want to say this, but I had no choice. "I need to use the bathroom." I threw a quick glance at him to read his reaction. He almost immediately started to approach me, making me instinctively cringe. Digging his hands into every pocket on his outfit, thoroughly searching them, he soon found what he was looking for. He pulled a key out before bending down over me to unlock the padlock that attached the handcuffs to the hitching ring as I nervously watched him. To my disappointment he left the handcuffs and the chain tightly wrapt around my ankles on though, as he carelessly placed the padlock along with it's key on the window ledge above me.

Worry stirred inside me as Mark took hold of my arms and began to pull me towards the door. It was a pretty painful experience to have my bruised body dragged once again across the floor and out through the door. I didn't protest, although a few moans escaped my mouth. He finally dumped me on a clear spot behind the cabin.

"I'll be back in five minutes." He said and left to get back inside. I hesitantly sat up, looking at my surroundings, a little surprised that he just left me there. The chain trapping my feet was only fastened with a carabineer that would be easy for me to open. I fought back the temptation to free myself and run of in the forest, knowing that I was too weak to be able to make it very far. Alan would be out and after me in no time. Giving him another reason to beat me up again was the last thing that I needed.

I somehow managed to take care of my business with all the restrains still on me, before Mark showed up again and pulled me back inside.

He left me on the floor in the middle of the room and went over to the fridge. I sat up, grateful that he hadn't secured me to the wall again. Feeling slightly better since I got to do my needs, without too much drama, a plan started to take shape inside my head. Hope filled me again and I was so devoured in my thoughts that I didn't notice Mark moving around in the kitchen area, preparing lunch.

I figured that if Mark had left me alone outside one time, he would sooner or later do it again. And the more I behaved and the less I tried to get away the more he would trust me. That would hopefully lead to him leaving me alone for longer and longer periods of time with less security… All I had to do was to wait until the right time…and in the meantime I would have to recover as much as possible, meaning that I would have to be obedient and don't do or say anything that would trigger Alan to come out. I'll eat everything that will be given to me and I'll rest waiting for my injuries to heal... There was one more thing I would need to do though; exercise.

Lying down all day was weakening me and if I didn't do anything about it soon I would barely be able to walk… It wouldn't be easy though with all the restraints and Mark hanging around… but next time I was left alone I would try and see if there was any exercises that I could do in spite of the chains. I had to take every precaution that I could think of before making my escape. I just couldn't afford to fail one more time…

A sudden tug on my arm made me snap back to reality. I winced, not expecting Mark to just grab me and pull me over to the table. He put his arms under my arms and lifted me onto one of the chairs. Already starting to work my plan I didn't struggle against him, but instead making it easier for him by pushing myself up with my legs.

A deep plate filled with hot soup was placed on the table in front of me. I was a little confused, but I didn't say anything. If he meant for me to sit at the table and eat that, then I would do just that. Not that I was complaining. The soup smelled delicious and I was starving, besides it was a nice change to sit on the chair instead of the floor.

Mark went around the table and sat down on the same chair he used to sit on. Not willing to take any chances, I waited for him to give me a signal that it was ok to eat, before I grabbed the spoon and hesitantly started to slurp down the soup. It tasted so good, that I soon forgot everything else around me. That was until an unpleasant feeling of being watched filled me and I abruptly stopped eating. I looked up from my plate just to meet those green orbs that I hated. My heart almost skipped a beat as I saw the starry look in Marks eye. He was resting his head in his hands and his elbows on the table, a smile spread across his face as if he was mesmerized by watching me eat.

Feeling uncomfortable I broke the eye contact and slowly placed the spoon back on the table. I didn't know why he acted like that, but it was freaking me out, to feel his gaze burn on me like that. I swear he didn't even blink. Was it something wrong with the soup? He didn't seem to have touched his yet. What if he'd spiked it again and was now waiting for the drug to kick in? I started to panic slightly.

"Thank you." He said all of a sudden, almost making me jump.

"For what?" I wondered confused.

"For getting rid of that monster…" He said, receiving a weird look from me. It took me a moment to get what he was talking about. I realized; he was Tess again, and he was talking about the nightmare…

"That was nothing…" I said casually, careful not to let any emotions show that he/she might misread. "I didn't do anything. It was just a nightmare." He shook his head.

"The monster keeps following me. Every time I fall asleep I see those big yellow eyes coming towards me… but last night…" He looked down at the table, placing his hands in front of him. "…he didn't return after you'd comforted me and told me that you would protect me." His cheeks turned red. Was he blushing? This was so awkward in so many ways…

"Like I said; I didn't really have to do anything, because the monster's not real." I said quickly, not wanting Tess to see me as her saviour.

"Then why does he keep coming back?"

"He doesn't." I stated. "You're just imagining him…Now shouldn't you be eating that?" I nodded towards the soup. The little girl inside the man in front of me went silent for a moment, making me think that she might was upset at me for not taking her seriously. I bit my lip, trying to think of a way to get out of this situation.

"You're so cute when you bite your lip like that." He giggled. I instantly stopped biting down on it, while becoming more worried, last night still fresh in my mind. "But you're always cute… even now when you look so worried and…" He cocked his head to the side, studying me. "Are you scared?" There was pity in the deep voice. Tess was right though, I was scared – of her…or him…or frankly anything or anyone hiding in that body in front of me. "Do you want a hug?" He stood up.

"No please!" I exclaimed without thinking, holding my hands up to stop him. The green eyes showed a little hurt. "I…I wanna hear more about that monster." I quickly added trying to change the subject. He sat down again slowly, and I sighed in relief.

"What do you wanna know?"

"Tell me everything." I said. "Tell me about the nightmares…" I didn't really care about it, I just wanted her to talk and not be focused on me. As long as he/she would sit in the chair on the other side of the table, I was fine. Hopefully I could keep Tess busy letting her tell me her story until Mark returned.

"They all start the same way… Me and dad are driving home, late at night. We're talking about the place we've been to earlier that day." She began.

"What place?" I asked not interested, but trying to keep the conversation as long as possible.

"The dojo of the Green Vipers." My head shot up. That was the place where we had been during our last tournament… A.K.A the place where I had met both Tess and Mark for the first time. "We've been watching a big tournament there…" Seeing my slightly confused expression, Tess asked; "Don't you remember? You were there too. Actually you were one of the contestants and you…"

"…won the traditional over all forms boys 14-17 and the finals in the karate sparring boys 14-15." I filled in for her.

"So you do remember." He -or actually- she smiled at me. I did remember because it had actually happened. "You did great by the way." She said shyly, blushing once again.

"So you're in the car driving home." I said, not wanting Tess to start talking about me, but focus on the 'nightmare' instead.

"Yes we're heading home. It's really dark outside and it had started to rain, making it hard to see… We're laughing. Then Dad goes serious all of a sudden, when turning to look at the road again. And I…I always get really scared at that point…" She went quiet for a moment and I started to realize where this was going. I eagerly waited for her to continue though, curious to know the rest of her story. "It always goes so fast after that… All I get to see are two bright eyes coming towards me. The monster honks his horn, really loud… I always scream and wake up just before he reaches me…"

We sat there in silence for a while, my mind full of thoughts. The monster she'd described sounded a lot like another car crashing into them… I know that a part of the nightmare had actually happened. Was it possible that the rest of it also had? Was the nightmare actually a memory repeating itself over and over again? Did Mark have the same nightmares or was it only Tess? I looked up at the man sitting on the chair on the other side of the table. He was currently twirling one of his fingers into his hair, while humming a silly melody, staring at the table. I shook my head. This was all so confusing… and creepy.

"I have a picture from the tournament." Tess said, causing me to fall out of my thoughts. He/she sprung from the chair and ran over to the backpack Mark had brought with us from the house. After a few seconds he came skipping back to me, making me tense. He stopped right next to me. I leaned away from him slightly.

"Here." He said, holding out the photo for me to look at. I instantly recalled the moment when the photo was taken. On the picture I was smiling, totally unaware of how much impact these people would have on my life. My left arm was carelessly hanging around the shoulders of a ginger-haired girl. She looked a lot like Mark, but prettier… "That's us." The man next to me said, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Have you looked yourself in the mirror lately?" I asked.

"You're funny." He cracked up laughing, nudging me on the shoulder obviously not getting that I wasn't joking. I leaned if possible even further away from him after the touch, looking down at the table. "Why so grumpy?" He asked, placing his hand on my head, ruffling my hair. I grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away from me, gently but assertive. Holding up my hands in front of my head in a defensive way, I said very clearly.

"Please. Do. Not. Touc…" Before I got to finish my sentence, he had practically launched himself at me, almost giving me a heart attack.

"Tickle war!" He squealed, digging his fingers into my sides, tickling me merciless. With the excitement of a little child but with the strength of a grown man, it was hard for me to free myself from him, especially with the handcuffs still on.

"Stop it!" I demanded flopping around underneath him. In an attempt to get away from it all I accidentally hit him in the face, just before trying to get up from the chair, totally forgetting about the chain trapping my legs… He looked shocked, holding his palm around his chin where I had just hit him, as he watched me fall to the floor. On my way down I'd instinctively grabbed a hold of the table cloth, bringing half of the dishes down with me. The porcelain smacked and shattered across the floor, soup spilling all around me. I looked up just in time to see the scared expression on his face transform into a furious one. Fear rushed through me and I sat up immediately. I couldn't think straight at that point. All I knew was that I needed to get away and I desperately tried to open the carabineer holding the chain firmly in place around my ankles. My tries abruptly came to a stop though, as pain exploded across the left side of my face. The fist had come with such force that it'd caused me to fall to the side.

"You thought you could get away, now didn't you?" Alan said bitterly.

"No…" I answered quietly, as I lay on the floor covering my face with my arms. My cheek was throbbing with pain and my heart racing.

"You thought you could fool us." He took hold of the chair I'd previously been sitting on and threw it out of his way, making me jump.

"No…I didn't." I whimpered, fighting back the tears as he walked up next to me.

"Oh but I think you did. Why aren't you still secured to the wall then?" He said, leaning over me. "Huh?"

"Mark let me loose." I answered trying to keep my voice from shaking.

"And you tricked him into doing it, didn't you?" It was more a statement than a question.

"No" I shook my head. He ignored me as expected.

"And now you tried to distract Tess so that you could take the chain off and run away." He was talking slowly making sure I heard every word he said. I was too scared to not pay attention though. "Can't believe you tried to ditch us after your promise and everything…"

"I didn't try to run away!" I raised my voice, in a desperate attempt to make him listen. Tears were burning in my eyes, knowing that the chances of him believing me were equal to none. He crouched down, leaning over me. I tried to stay calm, as I pressed my face deeper into my arms. He was so close I could almost feel his breath.

"You know what, Jack…" He hissed into my ear. "I think you're lying. And I really hate liars." Before I had the chance to say something in my defence, Alan stood up and placed a well aimed kick right to my stomach. I groaned, curling up by the impact. It felt like my guts where sent halfway up and out my mouth by the forceful kick, as a mixture of pain and nausea filled me. Panting I clutched my stomach, trying to make it all go away.

Alan watched me from above.

"I can't believe you dared to try and trick us…" He sounded angry, making me cringe. I didn't argue with him. What was the point? He would beat me up anyway. I closed my eyes, a tear slipping through my eyelids. I didn't wanna get beaten anymore. There was a limit to how much my body could take, and I feared that that limit would soon be crossed...

"Why do you hate me?" I asked, my voice barely louder than a whisper… Alan chuckled, sending shivers down my back.

"It still amazes me how utterly stupid you are." He said, his laugh dying out. Suddenly it felt like a thousand needles pierced through the skin at the top of my head, as Alan had grabbed a steady hold of my hair and pulled me up. I took a hold of his arm, trying to get him to let go of me.

"Let go!" I cried out. He ignored me and continued to pull on my hair until I was up on my knees facing the table. He then tilted my head forward while yanking my hands away from his arm. My hands fell down, giving me a clear view of the photo of me and Tess that was lying on the table in front of me.

"That girl…" He mumbled, pushing my head closer towards the picture. "That girl was everything to Mark. He loved her more than anything." I swallowed, just waiting for him to do something that would hurt me. "They did everything together…But then you came along and started to pull her away from him…" He was talking very quiet, which only added to the tension in the room. "Mark tried to keep their relationship the way it used to be, by driving her around all over the state, just to watch you fight. He didn't wanna lose her, but he did…" There was bitterness in his voice, making me feel uneasy. "On their way home from that tournament they collided with another car and just like that Tess was gone forever…" He paused for a few seconds. All the pieces started to fall in place at that moment… Tess was dead and that was the reason why Alan had returned to Mark… Tess had obviously liked me. I had kind of figured that out earlier though… What I didn't know was why Mark was acting like her… And why did Alan hate me? Was he accusing me for Tess's death? As if he could read my thoughts he said;

"And you killed her." He was still holding a tight grip of my hair.

"No…" I said, staring at the picture. "I didn't."

"Oh yes you did." He hissed in my ear. "If it wasn't for you Tess would still be alive….You KILLED HER!" He shouted out, while forcefully slamming my head down into the table, face first. I bit my lip as my chin hit the hard surface, causing it to bleed. He let go of me and I sank down to the floor, covering my face with my hands. My nose had taken quite a lot of the blow too and it had started to bleed again. Tears were welling up in my eyes as I carefully wiped some of the blood off my face with the back of my hand.

"And as if that's not bad enough, you've tried to ditch Mark several times, breaking stuff in the process." Alan was talking from behind me. I was still recovering from the hit to my face to be able to listen to him though. It hurt so bad. "What does it take for you to learn to behave?" He said, shaking his head deep in thoughts. "You don't deserve Mark's care…"

Alan suddenly grabbed me again, making me yelp. I was wondering what he was gonna do to me as he started to drag me outside. "In fact you don't deserve to sit at the table and eat…" He mumbled, just before throwing me down the two steps that led up to the small porch. I landed in the dirt, my bruises screaming when my body hit the ground. With a mixture of confusion and fear I looked up at Alan. "Throw it up." He said.

"What?"

"You heard me." He quickly made it down the steps and took a firm grip of the back of my neck, forcing me into a crawling position.

"Please." I begged. "Don't make me."

"Throw. It. Up." He demanded.

I shook my head 'no', looking in the direction of the path that was the only way to and from this place. Why wasn't anyone coming? For how much longer would he be allowed to torture me like this?

Alan's patience was running low and I could feel his grip of the back of my neck tightening. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to reach inside my mouth and cause myself to vomit. Instead I dug my fingers into the dirt, wishing that I in some magical way wouldn't have to do it.

My thoughts were interrupted as Alan without any warning forced his fingers inside my mouth and down my throat. I retched and pulled back, trying to escape the disgusting feeling of his fingers in my mouth. Alan kept a steady hold of me though.

"Get it out…." He mumbled, pushing his fingers deeper down my throat. My body reacted instantly and I involuntarily heaved, emptying my stomach, my sore back and stomach aching. The acid vomit caused my bleeding lip to sting. I spat a few times trying to get rid of the awful taste. Shaking slightly I looked at the vomit on the ground beneath me, a tear trailing down my cheek. I'd needed that food.

"That's a good boy. That wasn't so hard now was it?" Alan said satisfied, before pulling me back inside.

Once inside he roughly dragged me towards the wall again. Realizing that he was gonna do, I started to pull against him, even though I knew I wouldn't stand a chance.

"Please, no." Of course he acted as if he didn't hear me. "Please don't put me back by the wall. Please" I continued to beg, desperation filling me as I got closer to the spot where I had spent most of my time in. "Please."

My heart fell as Alan took the padlock from the window ledge and used it to fasten the handcuffs to the hitching ring again. "No… please…" I hadn't really noticed that more tears had found their way down my face as I looked up at the man that I was completely at the mercy of. "Please…" He looked down at me and for a moment I almost thought that he would unlock the padlock again. "Please…"

Without saying a word he turned around though, leaving me there.

"No wait!" I exclaimed desperately, before Alan went outside slamming the door shut behind him. "Wait…" I pulled on the cuffs, trying to get free. All I wanted was to go home. Just minutes earlier I had been sure that I would find a way to escape this place… But now that felt like an impossibility…

I sniffed. So much for keeping myself from getting hurt by Alan… My face was bleeding and the taste of bile was still fresh in my mouth. I dug my face into Kim's cardigan that lay on the floor, just wanting to disappear from it all. When was this misery going to end?

* * *

**That's all for now... **

**I'm really gonna try to be quicker at updating...can't make any promises though...**

**Oh and one more thing, I have an account on deviantart. I've only posted 2 pictures yet though... one of Kim and one of Jack... If you wanna check them out my username is PaintedWithJoy. **

**And please leave a review:) You'll get a sneak peek if you do...**

**/MJ**


	24. On our Way

**AN/ Chapter 24 is finally here! **

**Thank you datgirl1065, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWais ted, tunderrussian, Dreaming2BAWriter, krc93, Dance Star 93, Penguinlover3333, taylorusmyidol12, pinkrocker12, September14Fall, Parisbabe224, Randomgirl111111, 1379, PersonNatalie, PERSPN0090, Nerdygurlk13, Hgirl, StripedFuzzySocks, Dachshundlover, Ashley(We are all Imperfect), sad-beutiful-tragic, Naturallywritten, Anonymously Truthful, XxawesomepopicelesxX, 88Keys, XMusicIsMyReligionX, MrsCharlieAckles, Molly, 10pandasrule10 and Senior343.**

**I can't describe with words how much your reviews mean to me. Honestly. You guys are amazing:D**

**Some of you've wondered if this story is coming to an end and how many chapters there'll be... And I guess a lot more of you are wondering, so I thought I might as well tell you all. This story will have 31 chapters (if everything goes the way I plan...).**

**DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Kickin' it.**

* * *

Chapter 24

**On our Way**

**Kim's pov.**

The pain in my side had started to come back as the medicines were slowly losing their effect. I did my best not to show it though, not wanting mom to get worried.

"I'll be making chicken stew for dinner." Mom said from the driver's seat. "You like that, right?"

"Umhum…" I mumbled, not really interested. "Hey mom… about school tomorrow…"  
"Don't worry dear." She smiled at me. "I'll call your teacher first thing in the morning and tell her what happened. You won't have to go."

"But I want to go." I said quickly, receiving a concerned look from her. "I'm fine. Really." I reassured. "The pain is almost gone and I don't want to be home doing nothing…"

Judging by her expression, she was confused. No wonder… She'd practically had to drag me to school everyday for the entire past week and now when I finally was allowed to stay home, I wanted to go.

"Are you sure about that?" She asked, parking the car on our driveway.

"Positive." I said cheerfully, quickly jumping out of the car before she had the chance to protest, or more importantly; had the chance to see that I was lying… I'll admit it; I'm not the best liar in the world and mom usually sees right through me. This time I did my absolute best to fool her. It was so important that she believed me…

I quickly made it inside, cautiously walking in front of her, so she wouldn't see my face.

Of course I didn't want to go to school after everything that happened, and I wasn't intending on doing so… I just needed the school as a cover up so that no one would go looking for me…

Once inside, I hurried up the stairs and into my room, closing the door behind me. Mom would be busy cooking dinner and dad was out, giving me the perfect opportunity to put my plan into action. I pulled out my phone to dial my newest friend. I hesitated slightly. Maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all. Maybe it was too risky…

But on the other hand if this could bring me any closer to Jack, I would gladly take my chances…

I quickly made up my mind and pressed the call button. Sitting down on my bed I anxiously waited for someone to pick it up.

"Hello?" Came Austin's voice from the other side.

"Hi Austin."

"Kim…?" He sounded a bit surprised. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. It's so good to be back home again." I said. "That hospital must be the most boring place on this earth." He laughed a little at that.

"Well I'm glad you're ok. You really got us all worried sick…"

"Hmm..." I mumbled, not really caring. "Hey, I was wondering if you have any plans for tomorrow morning…?" I started.

"No, not really." I could tell he was trying to hold back his excitement, probably believing that I would ask him out on a date or something.

"I kind of need you to do me a favour…" I said hesitating. Mentioning Jack probably wouldn't be such a good idea, considering that Austin and Jack never really liked each other… Not that neither of them had said anything, but it was pretty obvious anyway… Now that I think of it it's pretty strange actually. Jack usually gets along just fine with almost anybody…

"Hello?...Kim, are you still there?" Hearing Austin's voice, I quickly decided that it would be best to leave Jack outside of this, for now at least…

"I sort of need a ride…" I crossed my fingers, hoping he would catch on.

"Ok, I can drive you, I mean if you want to." He offered. "Where do you wanna go?"

"I'm not sure what it's called…I'll show you tomorrow. It's just outside of town, but it'll probably take a few hours." I bit my lip waiting for him to say anything.

"Okay" He said.

"Really?" I couldn't hide my excitement and Austin picked it up quickly.

"Yes, really." He chuckled. "When do you want me to pick you up?"

"Eight o'clock, outside of school." He was quiet for a few seconds and I became worried that he'd changed his mind.

"Kim, what are you up to?" He wondered.

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Just be there… and don't tell anyone." I could hear him sigh at the other end. "Austin, I'm depending on you for this…please."

"Alright, alright…" He said. "I'll be outside your school and I won't tell anyone. But you better give me an explanation then."

"Don't worry, I will. See you." Again I could hear him chuckle a little at my excitement.

"See you."

"And Austin." I said quickly before he was able to hang up.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

"Anytime Kim…You know I would do anything for you." He mumbled the last part and I wasn't sure that I heard him correct.

"Bye." I said, hanging up, suddenly not wanting to talk any longer. I knew that he liked me in a way I could never like him back and as soon as he said or did something that reminded me of that I would become very uncomfortable.

Maybe it was a mistake to bring him into all of this. Maybe this whole plan was a mistake…

I quickly shrugged my worries off, telling myself that everything so far had gone exactly the way I wanted. There was no need to worry. All I needed to do now was to get my mom to drive me to school tomorrow at 7.30 AM as usual…

* * *

I stood behind the corner to the cafeteria. It was a perfect spot not to be visible from the entrance, where all the students and teachers would pass through, but still have a clear view of the parking lot.

After some very persuasive talk from my part, mom had finally given in and driven me to school and I had been lucky enough to not meet Grace or any other that would have recognized me immediately.

I was pretty sure that no one had noticed me yet, as I kept an eye open for Austin's car to appear.

With only five minutes until 8 o'clock Austin's red Ford pulled over just outside the school building. I watched as Eddie jumped out of the car and practically ran through the doors to the school, not wanting to be late. It didn't take more than a few seconds before my phone buzzed, indicating that I've got a new message. I brought the phone up and read the text.

'_I'm waiting outside your school now. _

_/Austin'_

Judging by the text he hadn't noticed me, which was good, as that proved that my hideout had been safe enough.

'_Yeah, I can c u… b right there'_

I sent the message and waited until the coast was clear before I took off towards Austin's car. Walking as fast as I could, I kept my gaze firmly on my destination, afraid that if I turned my head I would show my face to someone that would recognize me. I forced myself to keep walking and not start running, as that would draw too much attention to me. The school yard was almost empty and the chances of someone spotting me were very small, but I still felt very paranoid and expected someone to come up and stop me already.

When I finally reached the car, I threw the door open and swiftly made it inside. I sighed in relief as the car started to roll at the same time I closed the door.

I was too stressed to look at Austin at first, as I sank down in my seat, feeling like a criminal just busted out of jail.

"Morning" Austin mumbled, a slightly amused look on his face. "It's ok, you can breathe now…." I hadn't noticed how tense I was before he said that. Taking a deep breath I relaxed slightly, but I couldn't bring myself to sit up straight until the school building was fully gone out of sight. I turned to Austin who had trouble holding back a laughter at my silly behaviour.

"Morning…" I said.

"Ready for our adventure?" He smiled, causing a lump to grow in my stomach. I had almost forgotten for a little while, what we were here for. Austin probably thought that we would have some fun, just the two of us and I was worried that he might change his mind when I told him the real reason for all of this…

"Yeah…" I said, trying not to show my worries.

"Great…I just need to gas up before we leave." He explained, heading towards the closest gas station.

Once there, he left me alone for a short moment, while he went outside to fill the tank. I took a look around the place, my mind wandering off to Jack. I wondered how he was and what he did at that moment. What if Mark had hurt him even more? What if he had killed him?

I quickly shook the thought out of my head. Of course he was still alive. He had to be… otherwise I don't know what I'll do.

A car parked a few yards in front of us. I didn't pay much attention to it until I saw the man that stepped out of it. He was slightly bald and looked to be around his forties. I didn't need more than quick peek at him to recognize him as Chief Inspector Graham. Without hesitation I turned around in my seat, pretending to be reaching for something in the backseat, hoping that he hadn't noticed it was me.

The car door opened to the driver's seat, causing me to jump and freeze. This can't be happening… He'd seen me… It was over…

"What are you doing, Kim?" The sound of Austin's voice, made me let go of the breath I'd been holding, but I didn't turn around in case Mr Graham was still there.

"I'm just…" I started. "…Is there a middle aged man outside the car?"

"No…there was one, but he just went inside…" He said. "…why?"

"Oh it's nothing…" I shrugged, getting back into the seat. Austin gave me a sceptical look. "Can we just get out of here, please?"

"Sure."

Austin started the car and drove off.

"Where are we going?" Austin wondered, almost immediately after we'd left the gas station.

"To here." I said holding up my phone, the photo of Nelly's cut out map all over the screen. Austin took a quick glance at it.

"That's practically in the middle of nowhere…" He said. "What's this all about Kim?" I looked at him. How would I explain all of this, so he wouldn't change his mind about helping me?

I'd obviously been thinking about my answer for such a long time that he'd started to get impatient and was now throwing more questions out.

"Why did you want me to pick you up by your school? Why was it so important that I didn't tell anyone? Who was that man back at the gas station and why were you hiding from him? And why do you wanna go to the middle of the forest?"

"ok…" I said, taking a deep breath. "First of all, as you've probably already figured; no one knows about this. Mom and dad think I'm in school and the people in school… I believe they think that I'm just skipping my classes for various of reasons… Anyway… The reason why I can't let anyone know is that if they knew they would stop me from doing this…especially after what happened on Friday." I studied him. His face was pretty blank as he kept his eyes on the road, listening to me.

"It's about Jack, isn't it…?" He muttered.

"Yeah…" I admitted. "I found some great clues that could…"

"…lead you right back to Mark and get yourself hurt again or worse; killed." Austin finished for me. He sounded a little upset, but not too bad.

"No…it's just that…"

"You love him, don't you?" Austin said. I looked at him, taken aback by his question. "Jack. You love him." I couldn't say 'no', cause that would be a lie, but I couldn't bring myself to say yes either, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

"He's my best friend, Austin." I said. "And it's killing me to not know what's happening to him." I was surprised by my own reaction, but talking about this out loud made me all emotional and a lump in my throat started to form. "I don't even know if he's still alive."

Austin's face remained blank and I feared that he would drive me back home.

"Austin, please." I begged, tears forming in my eyes. "He's hurt, Austin." Still he didn't show any signs that would indicate if he would help me or not, which only caused me to stress out even more. "They've kept him locked up… and they've been beating him too! I've never seen him so scared before." The expression that Jack had on his face the last time I saw him, flashed before my eyes and it became impossible to hold back the tears any longer.

"I thought Jack knew karate and that he was really good at it." Austin said dryly. "So shouldn't he be able to defend himself?" I looked at him in disbelief.

"Yeah, you're right. Jack would easily take that lunatic down, he's just staying because he likes Mark's company." I said with sarcasm. Austin obviously didn't get the message though and he turned to me with a smile on his face, thinking that we would call it off. The fact that he didn't seem to get how serious this was, made me furious.

"Don't you get it?!" My voice came out harsh, wiping the smile off his face instantly. I didn't care though. "Don't you get that he's suffering and needs help?" A few more tears made their way down my cheeks. This time they were mainly from anger and frustration. How could he not see?

"He can't make it out on his own." I said remembering very vivid the horror that had taken place in that basement three nights ago. Jack had been so scared he'd cried. I'd never seen him like that before. "We have to help him."

"Then why don't you call the cops and give them all the information that you have."  
I slumped back against the seat, knowing that he had a point.

"It's just that… I don't know if the information that I have will lead anywhere…and I don't want to tell them before I know for sure…Besides I don't really trust them."

"Why not?"

"I don't know… You know that man back at the gas station… "I sniffed. "He's one of the inspectors working on the case…and I don't trust him." Austin shook his head.

"Sometimes you're really weird Kim…" He said. I ignored his comment though.  
"We're probably not gonna find more than yet another clue in there though, if we're lucky." I muttered, wiping a few tears away. "I can't stand to sit around at home just waiting for anything to happen…" I turned to him again. "Please Austin."  
"Alright, alright." He said, meeting my flooded eyes. "Can I have a look at the map again?"

I suddenly felt hopeful again, as I held up my phone to show him the picture once more.

"So you'll help me get there?"

"Yes, I will." He said. "But I'll probably regret it…" He mumbled, studying the map as he occasionally threw an eye on the road. "What is that place anyway?"

"It's a hunting cabin…" I answered. "Mark used to go there all the time with Tess."

"Tess?"

"His daughter… That's another thing that's strange… Tess's supposed to be dead, but I'm not sure." Austin gave me a questioning look.

"You think she's still alive?"

"I don't know." I shook my head. "Everything is so confusing. I don't know if this will lead anywhere… but it's the only place that I know Mark uses to hang out at besides his home and maybe there'll be something there that could tell us where he and Jack are…I don't know…" I shrugged. "I just have a gut feeling that this somehow is important."

I knew that there was a small chance that they might even be in the cabin. The chance was small but it still was there… I constantly told myself that they most likely weren't and that I wouldn't find anything there. That way I wouldn't be too disappointed if this just turned out to be a dead end….

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**I know this chapter was more of a filler, but I still think it was needed...**

**Please don't forget to review and tell me what you think. There'll be a sneak peek as usual:)**

**And haha...noticed that the name of the page that I have an account on didn't show on the last chapter... the page's deviantart and my username is PaintedWithJoy. There's still only 2 drawings posted... 1 of Jack and 1 of Kim...**

**/MJ**


	25. My Angel

**AN/ Hi sorry...again for taking so long to update... It's just that the chapters are pretty long and they're taking some time to write...and I want them to be good before I post them...**

**Thank you thunderrussian, pinkrocker12, Randomgirl111111, krc93, MrsCharlieAkcles, Aqua468, Molly, Penquinlover3333, datgirl1065, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWais ted, Parisbabe224, Hgirl, strikenotes, taylorusmyidol12, Dachshundlover, StripedFuzzySocks, Tomboy22, Guest, Dreaming2BAWriter, September14Fall, XMusicIsMyReligionX, Sarabear266, Anonymously Truthful, Guest, Dance Star93, 88Keys and anaross3000 for all your reviews. **

**And also thank you MrsCharlieAckles to help me with naming this chappie:)**

**I hope you all gonna like this chapter e****ven though it's pretty dark...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 25

**My Angel**

**Jack'pov.**

_The warm summer wind played with her soft locks, making them dance over her shoulders. Her deep brown eyes met mine and I smiled as she stirred a tingling feeling to life inside of me. She almost looked supernatural as she stood there in the middle of the meadow, the sun's rays bouncing off of her, making her shine. _

"_You look beautiful." I said. She smiled and took my hand, pulling me closer to her. The tingling feeling in my body increased, as I was so close to her now I could feel her breath upon my skin. Tilting her head slightly backwards she started to close the gap between us. Not being able to wait for her, I leaned in too, meeting her halfway. I barely had time to even touch her lips though before a firearm echoed through the air, making me jump. _

_Kim slumped lifelessly against me. Confused I wrapt my arms around her before she could fall to the ground. _

"_Kim?" She didn't respond. "Kim?!" Her body got heavier in my arms and I struggled to hold her up. "Kim please."_

_Thick liquid sipped from her back and slipped through my fingers. I slowly brought my hand up so that I could see it. The crimson red blood that covered most of it made me panic. "No Kim…!" My knees gave in under me and I sank to the ground, still holding on tightly to my love, as everything around us turned dark. The wind grew stronger matching the storm that had erupted in my heart. "Kim please, wake up." Tears were starting to form in my eyes. _

_Blood was now pouring out of her back and created a pool beneath us. I put my hand over the wound, desperately trying to stop the blood from leaving her body. No matter how hard I tried though, more blood kept coming as the wound seemed to grow. Kim's body started to slip out of my embrace. "No, no…" I tried to tighten my grip and bring her up again, but my hands and arms were stuck. I struggled to be able to reach her, but the more I struggled the more pain shot through my wrists. "No Kim!" She finally fell down to the ground and all I could do was watch as she slowly got soaked in her own blood. "Kim!"._

"KIM!" I screamed. The wind and the darkness quickly disappeared, however my inability to move did not. Still not fully awake I panicked and started to pull on my restrains violently.

"Shut it, boy!" A deep voice growled from above me. In the corner of my eye I saw something coming in my direction. I closed my eyes, cringing just as it hit me on my shoulder, causing pain to erupt through it. I stopped moving immediately. Tears found their way down my cheek as everything came back to me. My hands were still chained to the wall in front of me with no way of escaping, the gashes around my wrists reopened from my uncontrolled struggles just seconds earlier. I was still under the control of a mad man, who constantly kept hurting me and worst of all; Kim was and will remain gone forever.

The realization hit me hard and I hid my face in her cardigan, as soft sobs escaped my lips.

The item that'd just been thrown at me, slid down and landed on the floor between me and the wall. It was a book. I paid it no greater attention though, too upset to care.

Behind me I could hear him getting out of bed. It was pretty light in the cabin, which meant that it was early in the morning. I'd come to hate the mornings, since they only meant that I would have to spend yet another day filled with fear, pain and sorrow in this godforsaken place. I never knew if I would survive until night came. When it finally did, I was usually all worn out and I fell asleep from exhaustion. I didn't mind sleeping though. It was the only time I could escape this place for a brief moment and hide in my own dreams. But now even my dreams were disturbing me. The image of the dying Kim flashed before my eyes and I couldn't help but whimper.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?!" He hissed in a way only Alan did. I scooted closer to the wall and away from the man that scared me more than anything in this world, still hiding my face in the soft garment as if that would keep me safe. Just my luck to wake up with Alan…

My whole body tensed, as I heard him approach me.

"You'll never learn, do you?" He said, crouching behind me. I lay absolutely still, scared that my movements would provoke him.

Suddenly I felt his hand trying to wrench Kim's sweater out of my hands.

"No please." I hugged it even tighter, rolling slightly over it, in an attempt to hide it from him. He grabbed my shoulder and pulled me backwards, while reaching for the sweater with his other hand. He was gonna win this fight… I knew that. He had won every time before and he was going to do it again. I still struggled though, unable to accept the fact that he was going to take the only thing I had left of her. "Please don't."

When he realized I wasn't going to give in that easily he became more violent. His grip of my shoulder tightened and with a forceful jerk the soft fabric slipped through my fingers. I was surprised of how easily he'd done it. He must've gotten stronger… I realized later though that he hadn't, instead it was me that gotten weaker…

I lifted my head, eying the sweater Alan held in his hands. He was still crouching, holding the sweater so close I would easily be able to reach it if it hadn't been for the stupid cuffs. "Please." I pleaded, my face damp from all the tears that kept on coming. He studied me silently for a moment, a blank expression on his face. "Don't take it away from me…please." My voice wasn't much louder than a whisper.

"You're pathetic." He said coldly, shaking his head. "She'll never come back, so you might as well forget about her. I don't know why you even bothered to love her in the first place." He chuckled. "As if she would ever love someone like you…As if anyone would ever love you."

I tried to push his words away, not listening to them, but somehow they made it to my heart, hurting me. I sank my head to the floor again, my neck too tired to support it any longer.

"I actually think I did her a favour…setting her free from this world and from you." He continued, receiving a glare from me. "Now she never has to see or hear from you again..."

"I could always die." I muttered, looking at my hands, hanging in the short chain. The thought about going to heaven to spend rest of eternity with Kim and leaving this awful place behind was very appealing. Alan burst out laughing at my comment.

"As if that would make any difference… She's in heaven. That's a place you'll never see. They only let good people in, not murderers like you."

"I'm not a murderer…." I sniffed. "…You are though…" I said quietly, not really wanting him to hear it, but I felt the need to say it anyway. Mostly to convince myself that he was still the bad guy and not me.

"What did you say?" He sounded a bit angry and I didn't dare to answer him. "What did you say?!" With a swift movement he grabbed my hair and pressed my head down against the floor hard, his closed fist digging into my temple. The pain that it caused got me so angry and frustrated that I felt the need to defend myself and the only way I could do that was with words…

"I said; you're the murderer, not me! You killed Kim! I'd never killed anybody. It's not my fault that Mark's such a bad driver and…" My voice died out, as I realized what I'd just said. Alan was silent for a moment, still holding an iron grip of me. The tension in the room grew, as I heard him grind his teeth. I swallowed. What did I just do?

He laughed bitterly.

"You…" He shook his head, his expression changing. The green eyes filled with hatred. "I ought to strangle you!" He yelled, moving his hand from my head to my throat. I gasped for air, as his grip became tighter. With all the power I could bring up I twisted underneath him, trying to escape his death grip, without any luck. My airways were completely cut of and I was starting to get light-headed. Just when I thought that this was the way I was going to die he let go of me. I immediately inhaled deeply through my mouth, filling my lungs with oxygen again. I coughed a few times before I closed my eyes. Lying on my back I tried to get my breathing back to normal, my throat hurting a little when I swallowed. It took me a moment to recover from my near death experience, both physically and mentally. Beside me I could hear Alan take a deep breath, as if he was trying to calm himself down from his sudden outburst.

"Lucky for you…" He said. "…Mark would never let me kill you. He cares too much about you…Which is kind of funny, since he's the one you've hurt the most. You're the reason Tess is dead and me killing Kim is completely different." I shook my head slightly, opening my eyes just enough to see him looking down at me. "Tess died for nothing, but Kim…I had to make things right." He shrugged. "It was my duty... I've done nothing wrong. If you wanna blame anyone for Kim's death, you should blame yourself…."

Under other circumstances I wouldn't have listen to him, but I was so worn out and tired from spending day after day like this, that I didn't even seem to have the strength to think by my own anymore and his words cut through me like a dagger. I'd started to sob again, rolling over to my side, facing the wall once more.

"You're so stupid…" Alan said, watching me. "No wonder no one likes you."

"That's not true." I whimpered quietly.

"But it is. I think they all are much better off without you." He was leaning closer to me, so that I would be sure to hear him.

"No…" I sniffed.

"Then how come no one has come looking for you?" I didn't have any good answers to that one, which made Alan smirk. "I can tell you why…" He said. "It's because no one wants you to come back…There is no one there who misses you…no one who…"

"Stop it!" I exclaimed, not wanting to hear any more. Scooting closer to the wall, I covered my face with my hands, crying hopelessly into them. "Please stop…"

A part of me tried to tell me that I shouldn't listen to him. That he only said those things to hurt me…but I couldn't let go of the possibility that he might be right.

What if no one liked me? What if I was a truly horrible person who actually deserved all of this?

"You're not the one in charge here." He muttered. "You can't order me around… In fact it's you who're gonna obey me, and I told you before; to shut up…" He reached down to me, trying to get a hold of my jaw. I did everything that I could to prevent him from doing so, by turning my face down towards the floor and shielding it with my hands.

"No…please"

"You know…" He said, his voice a little forced. "…I'm really starting to get tired of you disrespecting me." After a few seconds of intense struggling from both of us he finally won…again. Clutching my jaw, he forcefully made me look up at him through my puffy eyes.

"Do you want this back?" He asked, waving Kim's cardigan in his other hand.

"Yes…" I answered truthfully.

"You'll get it if you keep your mouth shut. Do you understand?"

"Yes." He smirked at my response.

"See you can't even shut up for a few seconds…" I lowered my gaze, realizing my mistake. Why was it so hard to do things right at this place? I barely did anything, and the few things I actually did always turned out wrong, making things worse.

"Don't worry." He said. "Fortunate for you, I'll help you to keep quiet and to keep this at the same time." I looked up at him again, suddenly worried. There was a very disturbing grin on his face. Without any warning he increased the pressure on my jaw, causing me to open my mouth so that he could easily shove the cardigan into it. I gagged, trying to spit it back out. He was so much stronger than me though and pretty soon he'd managed to wrap the cardigan two times around my head, covering my mouth and using the sleeves to fasten it with a tight knot.

"I told you I would fix it for you." He said, looking down at my trembling form. I was crying quite hard, almost choking myself as the air my nose was supplying me with was barely enough. Feeling the need to hide again, I moved closer to my hands so I could place my face in them. Alan saw it and quickly grabbed my hand that was closest to him, holding it away from my face.

"Don't even think about removing it." He hissed, referring to the sweater he'd used to gag me with. "Understood?" I gave him a small nod to show him that I did. He let go of me before he stood up and walked away. I quickly placed my hand back over my face, relieved that he finally left me alone. All the words that he'd said kept repeating themselves inside my head, causing more tears to emerge from my eyes. I felt so alone and heartbroken.

Behind me I could hear him fiddling around over by the kitchen and pretty soon the smell of bacon being fried filled the cabin… I was so hungry and it didn't take long until my empty stomach started to growl and I prayed to God that he wouldn't hear it.

After he'd finished his breakfast he made it over to me. I closed my eyes, thinking; here we go again. To my surprise though, he just put something down above my head, before heading out the door. I didn't move until he had gotten outside and I could hear him start the car. Once I was sure he was gone I turned my head upward, looking at the object he'd placed there. It was a plate with some leftovers. Surely it was meant for me, but he'd placed it too far away, for me to be able to reach it. I leaned in closer to my hands, taking a hold of the sweater wrapt over my mouth and pulled it down, so it was hanging around my neck instead. After some fiddling around with it I finally got the knot up and was able to take it completely off of me. Looking determined at the plate once more, I pushed myself closer to it. Maybe I would be able to reach it with my mouth…

It turned out to be impossible though and after a few tries I gave up. Hopefully when he got back he would be Mark and give it to me.

I scooted back into a more comfortable position. Not that there was any position that was comfortable, with almost every part of my body being bruised, but I managed to place my body in such a way that the pain wouldn't drive me crazy. Looking up at the ceiling, I thought of everything he'd said, beginning to realize that he was probably right. No one would ever come for me and I would never be able to go home again…

* * *

I lay facing the wall again, staring hopelessly at the handcuffs that forced me to stay in my misery. I'd cried almost all morning, not wanting to accept my fate. The tears had finally come to an end though, as I must've used all that I'd got. There couldn't possibly be any left.

My head hurt slightly, probably from lack of food and water… but not too bad if I just kept still. The plate with my breakfast on it was still mocking my empty stomach and I did my best to ignore it. In fact I tried to ignore everything. What use did it make to care about anything any longer…? Nothing seemed to matter…

I felt empty. It was like there was a huge hole inside of me and all my emotions were gone. I couldn't even feel sadness or anger or fear…

That was until I heard the door handle being twisted. I froze, the fear suddenly returning. The door didn't open right away though. Whoever was on the other side had trouble getting through it. They started pushing and tugging on it, causing noises that made me tense. A few moments went by, before the door finally swung opened. I clutched Kim's sweater in my hands, holding it close. The person waited a few seconds before slowly walking in my direction. Hoping with all my heart that it would be anyone, but Alan, I listen anxiously to the footsteps. Suddenly the person stopped, their gaze burning in my back.

"Please… don't hurt me." I begged quietly.

"Jack…?" The sound of _her_ voice almost made my heart stop. I was hearing her again. "Oh dear…Jack…" She sounded upset. I was so caught up listening to her voice that I didn't notice that the person had approached me, and was now kneeling next to me. "Jack?" There it was again. I was about to answer to it, when I felt someone placing their hand on my shoulder. Realizing that the person was so close to me, I jerked startled, hiding my face in Kim's cardigan. Why couldn't they just leave me alone?

"Jack, it's me. Kim." Her voice chimed in my head again. I missed her so badly and the sound of her made the tears come back. The person behind me was rubbing my shoulder soothingly and I realized that it must be Tess…

"Jack" This time I couldn't tell if it was Kim's voice or Tess talking through Mark. All I heard was my name being repeated. "Jack, please say something." A hand touched the part of my cheek that wasn't hidden in the knitted garment, stroking it before combing through my hair. "Jack…"

"Please…" I whimpered through the fabric, not knowing if I would be able to deal with Tess right now. "…don't do this to me…."

"What are you talking about?" I was too upset to answer or even think about the question. All I did was praying that he/she would leave me alone. I wasn't strong enough to go through anymore today. In a desperate attempt to shield myself I shut down, ignoring everything around me. That way, things might not be as bad.

"Jack please, just look at me." I closed my eyes, not noticing the cardigan being removed from my face.

"Jack…" Kim's voice came back to me as I pushed more and more of the outside world away, until I could imagine her presence. I opened my eyes and turned my head slightly, looking up towards the ceiling. Her doe like eyes met mine. They were filled with compassion and love, but also sadness and pain. She'd never looked more beautiful to me though.

"Kim..?" I whispered.

"I'm here, Jack. I'm here." She moved closer to me. In the distance I could feel someone stroking my cheek again. I did my best to stay focused on my Kim though, not wanting to return to the cruel reality. I didn't care if I was going insane anymore. I needed my Kim to be able to survive.

Just like last time I'd saw her before my eyes, I felt the urge to reach out and touch her. I pulled on my restrains hopelessly. Kim looked at my hands and quickly placed her hand in mine. I instantly squeezed it with both of my hands, not intending to ever let go. Turning my head, I placed my face so that I could touch the back of her hand with my lips and nose. I was amazed of how real she felt. Then something hit me. What if I didn't imagine? What if Kim really was Kim, sent from heaven...

"Am I dying?" I asked.

"No…"

"Then why is there an angel, sitting right next to me?"

"Jack, there's no angel here. It's just me. Kim. And I'm here to bring you back home." The words were nothing else than the deepest desire of my heart. I pressed my face against her hand, sobbing. I wanted it to be true so bad and the fact that it wasn't made me completely devastated.

"Jack…" The person next to me tried to reach me again. "Is there anything you need? Are you hungry or thirsty?" I nodded slightly, without looking up. There were a lot of things that I needed… My freedom for instance… "I'll be right back."

As I started to be more and more aware of my surroundings again, Kim began to disappear. Her hand slipped out of my grip even though I desperately tried to hold on to it. I blinked away a couple of tears, facing the same wooden wall that's been my view for the past days. The experience with Kim had felt so real and I wondered briefly if this was what Mark was going through everyday with Tess. Was I starting to become just as insane as he?

Behind me I could hear Mark –or Tess probably- moving around in the Kitchen area, I didn't really care what they were doing as long as they weren't near me. Being left alone again I thought about everything that had happened since I got here. So much had changed…so much had been taken away from me… I would never be happy again and the pain would never go away. I sniffed. Why couldn't they just show me enough mercy to end my suffering and set me free from this world…?

I let out a small whimper.

"I'm coming, Jack." I heard footsteps approaching me again. "Jack?" A hand touched my cheek and I looked up slightly. There was a glass of water in front of my eyes. It took me a moment to realize that it was real and it was for me. I lifted my head, reaching for the glass. I was so thirsty. A hand held the glass to my lips while another supported my head. It tasted so good. I quickly emptied the glass and glanced up at the ceiling once more and just like last time I was met by the sight of my love. Blond soft locks were framing the most beautiful face in the world and I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Kim?"

"Yes." I swallowed. There were so many things that I wanted to say to her, even though she was just a part of my imagination.

"I miss you..." I spoke the words as they were the first ones that popped up in my head. "…and I lov…"

The door opened, cutting me short and a tall figure came into view. Looking up at him I didn't believe my eyes. Was he for real? He must be. I would never use my imagination to bring him to life… or would I? Either way it was humiliating to have him seeing me like this, all broken down and tied up like an animal, especially if he'd heard me talking to Kim, almost confessing my love for her.

Somehow the sight of him made me completely lose it. He brought back so many memories and emotions. The hardest one to accept was Kim's feelings. Alan had been right; she'd never loved me like that and she most likely never would…

I wanted to run, to disappear. But the damn chains kept me from doing so and frustration overwhelmed me. With all the power I had I threw my body away from the wall, tugging furiously against my restrains. Every injury screamed at me to stop. I didn't care though; I'd had enough of all of this.

"Jack, calm down." Ignoring the voice, I kept struggling. I was so sick of not being in charge of my own life anymore and I was determined to fight until either the chain broke or my heart stopped. There was no way I would give up to a life in captivity. "You're hurting yourself…please Jack, stop…"

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**That's it for now... **

**The next chapter will be up on Friday 15th. There's not gonna be a sneak peek for it... But if I get enough reviews on this one, I'm gonna post chapter 26 earlier... But I'm gonna need at least 25 reviews...hehe because I'm evil...;P (I think I've been spending too much time with Alan...)**

**So depending on how bad you want the next chapter... review, review, review... and it might be up tomorrow already...;) It's totally up to you guys...**

**/MJ **


	26. Finding the Cabin

**AN/ WOW you guys are amazing 29 reviews already!**

**Thank you so much thebiggestLMfan, Guest, Randomgirl111111, Dreaming2BAWriter, RedisforRoses, Cassi, Bluedog270(we miss you here on fanfiction), thunderrussian, datgirl1065, StripedFuzzySocks, Accustic Writer, September14Fall, Molly127, Aqua468, Hgirl, anaross3000, Dachshundlover, taylorusmyidol12, pinkrocker12, Guest, krc93, sweetsos209, XMusicIsMyReligionX, Anonymously Truthful, MrsCharlieAckles and Nurdygurlk13**

**Here's chapter 26, just like I promised:) To all of you who found chapter 25 a little confusing, I hope that this chapter will give you some explanations...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it.**

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Chapter 26

**Finding the Cabin**

**Kim's pov.**

We had been driving for almost two hours when we finally saw the narrow path that would lead right out in the forest and up to the cabin.

"This must be it." Austin stated as he slowed down the car slightly. The road that we currently were on was pretty small too and there wasn't much traffic.

"Yes…" I mumbled, an uneasy feeling going through me as I looked at the forest to our left. I was excited to finally be here, but also a bit scared. There were so many things that could go wrong. Caught up in my thoughts I didn't realize that Austin had driven right past the path without turning, until it was too late.

"What are you doing?!" I exclaimed. "We were supposed to turn right there." I pointed with my thumb in the direction of the path, glaring at him. He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Calm down Kim. I'm just going to find a place to park the car." He explained, receiving a confused look from me. "I don't think it would be very wise to drive up to the cabin just like that. We don't know what we're gonna find…especially if that's the only way to and from that place. It could be like driving right into a trap…But if we walk by foot, we could sneak up there unnoticed. Besides it'll be way easier to hide in the forest if it's just the two of us and not the whole vehicle."

I suddenly felt stupid. I'd never thought about that really. In my too direct line thinking mind, I had pictured us just driving right up to the cabin and have a quick look around before driving back home again. Hopefully with some new clues….

"Here will do." Austin mumbled, pulling over at a gas station just half a mile from the path. He parked the car and unbuckled himself. Just as he was about to jump out of the car he noticed me frozen to the spot, staring out in the distance.

"You ok, Kim?" He asked concerned, making me snap back to reality.

"Yeah I'm fine." I put on a smile. "I was just thinking..."

"About what?"

"Nothing really…" I said as convincing as I could. He didn't buy it, I could tell, but he let it go none the less.

"You don't have to do this…"  
"I want to." I quickly said.

"Ok…but just so you know, I'll drive you straight back home immediately when you want to. You just have to ask me." I appreciated that he was willing to do whatever I would need him to. Knowing that made me feel a lot calmer.

"Thanks" He gave me a smile, which I returned.

"So… are you ready to do this?"

"Yes I am." I nodded and got out of the car...

We walked, following the road, although we were not up on the road, but about ten feet from it… Austin had insisted of us staying hidden and we were now stumbling around in the bush.

The terrain here was uneven and the plants weren't higher than four to five feet, forcing us to crouch while moving. I felt rather silly doing it, but Austin seemed to enjoy himself, pretending we were agents on a top secret mission or something.

When we reached the place where we would have to cross the road we stopped, making sure that the coast was clear before exposing ourselves, running across it. Once on the other side we slowed down again and started to make our way through the forest, still walking on a safe distance to the path…

"You hear that." Austin whispered, holding up his hand to stop me. "Get down." He ordered, throwing himself flat on his stomach while pulling me with him. I gasped as I was reminded of my injury, pain exploding through it when my body hit the ground. I was about to say something when Austin hushed me. The sound of a moving vehicle reached my ears. It was travelling through the forest, coming in our direction. Soon the car came into view and I instantly recognized it as Mark's. Excited and a little worried I watched him drive past us. We were on the right track. He'd been to the cabin, just as I thought. Did that mean that Jack's been there too? And maybe still was...? It was possible, I couldn't deny that, but I kept telling myself that I wouldn't find him there. That way I wouldn't be disappointed.

Mark had past us and we rose to our feet.

"That was him." I stated.

"Yeah, I figured…" Austin said. "Seems like you know what you're doing after all…" He looked at the direction Mark had disappeared. "We should probably get going, before he comes back."

I nodded and we moved quickly towards our destination, running most of the way. Knowing that we wouldn't be faced with Mark on our way there, we could travel on the path, which made things a lot easier. The trees grew so close to each other in some places that it was almost impossible to see past them. I was thankful we didn't have to find our way through that, because I'm not sure we would have made it without getting lost.

It took about half an hour until we finally saw the cabin. I smiled, exultingly looking at it. The wooden walls might contain all the information I needed to find Jack. Little did I know of just how much I would find…

We approached the small building slowly, the tension getting stronger with each step. I carefully made it up the stairs and stopped at the door. Ok this is it, I thought, taking a deep breath before turning the door knob, only to find out that it was locked. Feeling a bit stupid I removed my hand, looking up at Austin.

"It's locked." I said a bit disappointed.

"Well, what did you expect?" He shrugged. I shook my head and tried to push on the door. Austin watched me with amusement. "You're not gonna be able to open it like that." As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. None the less I grabbed the door knob once more and tried to pull and push on it again. Austin shook his head and disappeared for a moment. I hadn't really noticed that he had been gone until he returned a couple of minutes later.

"You might wanna try this." He said from behind me. I let go of the door and turned around. It took me a moment to realize that the thing that he was holding up in front of me was a key. Most likely the key to that would unlock the door.

"Where did you find that?" I asked.

"Over by the shed." He pointed in the direction. I looked over his shoulder. I hadn't even noticed that there actually was a shed.

"How did you know where to look?"

"I didn't." He said. "I just went over there to see if there were any tools that we could use to break through the door. I found this on one of the shelves…" He waved the key in front of me, before handing it to me. "You go inside. I stay here and watch in case Mark comes back."

"Okay" I didn't really mind going in alone. In fact I preferred to do that, so that I could search through it without any distractions. I turned to the door again."

"And Kim…." Austin said, making me freeze for a second. "If you need me, just call. I'll be right outside."

I gave him a smile before unlocking the door.

Carefully I pushed the door opened, my heart beating hard in my chest. I knew that Mark had left and it would probably be pretty safe for me to walk inside, but I still felt unsure. The first thing I laid my eyes on was a corner that looked like a small kitchen, supplied with everything that you could possibly need. In front of it was a table with three chairs and on the wall right nest to the table was what appeared to be a window that was now covered with boards, making that side of the cabin a little darker. I turned my head, searching the place with my eyes, making sure that it would be safe to enter. My gaze fell upon a lifeless figure, lying on the floor next to the bed. I blinked a few times to make sure what I saw was real. Realizing that the figure was Jack, I started to move closer but soon stopped abruptly, hesitating. He was facing the wall, so I couldn't see his face. His ankles were chained together and his clothes were dirty and ripped in some places. He was lying absolutely still, making me dread that he wasn't alive.

"Please… don't hurt me." He pleaded, his voice weak. The fact that he had to fear someone ever hurting him, made my heart ache.

"Jack…?" He tensed at the sound of my voice and I quickly made it over to him, kneeling beside him. Nothing could've prepared me for what I saw. I'd known that he would be hurt and in pretty bad shape…but imagine it and seeing it with my own eyes were completely different… "Oh dear…" I mumbled, trying to keep my voice from shaking. "Jack?" His hands were cuffed and secured to the wall, with a padlock not leaving him much room to move. His wrists had been bleeding more than once it appeared, as several layers of dry blood in different shades were covering them. He must've been pretty desperate to get free. My eyes welled up as I took in the scene. In his hands he held on tightly to the cardigan I'd lost back at Mark's house. Had he kept it all this time?

"Jack?" I swallowed down the lump in my throat, placing a hand on his shoulder. He immediately flinched and moved closer to the wall, burying his face in the sweater. With a swift movement I wiped a tear away, that had fallen from my eye. "Jack, it's me. Kim." I sniffed replacing my shaky hand on his shoulder. He was so tense. I gently rubbed his shoulder, trying to get him to relax. "Jack" I tried again, wanting to help him so badly, but I didn't know where to start. His face was hidden in my sweater, with only his ear and a part of his cheek showing. "Jack, please say something." I pleaded, not being able to hold back the tears any longer. I didn't recognize him. What if I was too late?

I shook my head. I wasn't too late. He was still alive.

"Jack…" I reached down and caressed his cheek gently, before running my fingers through his hair.

"Please…" He whimpered and I could tell he was crying. "…don't do this to me..."

"What are you talking about?" I tried to hold back a sob, not really succeeding. Didn't he want me to touch him? "Jack please, just look at me." I carefully removed a part of the sweater that was covering his eye, while still stroking him gently though his hair with my other hand. He didn't look up at me, instead he closed his eyes, his eyelashes clumping together from all the tears. It pained me so to see him like this. "Jack…" I pushed the cardigan even further away, revealing some more of his face.

He finally decided to open his eyes and turn to look at me. I couldn't help but letting a soft sob slip through my lips when I saw his face. His right temple was bruised as well as his left cheek. There were patches of dry blood around his nose and mouth and he had a big cut in his bottom lip. He was a little dirty, making the tear streaks even more visible. Up in his hair line on the left side of his face there was a pretty large cut. Seeing all his injuries made me wonder, how much pain he'd been through and how much he was still going through.

I looked into his brown orbs, desperately trying to find my friend in there somewhere.

"Kim…?" I think my heart took a small leap, when he finally spoke my name.

"I'm here Jack. I'm here." I leaned in a little closer, wiping some of his tears away with my thumb. A rattling sound was heard from beside us. I looked up towards the noise, realizing that he was tugging on the handcuffs, trying to get free. It was heartbreaking to watch and I quickly grabbed one of them, squeezing it gently. He wrapt both of his hands around mine and turned his head towards it. Moving to his previews position he placed his face against my hand, brushing his lips and the tip of his nose against it.

"Am I dying?" He asked. I frowned at his question.

"No" I answered, hoping with all my heart that he wasn't.

"Then why is there an angel, sitting right next to me?" Was he talking about me? I felt my cheeks heating up a little.

"Jack, there's no angel here. It's just me, Kim. And I'm here to bring you back home." I had meant for my words to comfort him, but they seemed to have the opposite effect, as he started to sob again, pressing his face against the back of my hand. What did I say to upset him like that?

I looked at the things restraining him. They were impossible to break by hand and I would need some kind of tool to remove them, preferably a key…

Looking around I noticed a plate with some food on the floor a few feet away from us. I briefly wondered if that was meant for Jack.

"Jack…" I started. "Is there anything you need? Are you thirsty or hungry?" I know that I should be focusing on getting him out of there, but I didn't know how at the moment. So until I find a way, I could at least ease his suffering somewhat. I just couldn't stand to see him like this.

He gave me a nod, but remained silent. I looked around the cabin.

"I'll be right back." I said, carefully removing my hand from his. His grip tightened and I had to use a little force to break free from it. He tried to reach for me, but the short chained cuffs stopped him. I gave him one last glance. He looked so vulnerable and hurt. I forced myself to my feet and headed over to the 'kitchen'. Using my sleeve I dried my tears away. I was shaking. Ok Kim focus….

Taking a deep breath I tried to think. I went through all the cupboards until I found a glass that I could pour up water in. I wasn't just looking for a glass though. I was also searching for something that could be useful to free Jack.

The boy whimpered from behind me and I quickly filled the glass with water.

"I'm coming, Jack" I reassured, as I made my way over to him. Just like before he didn't show any signs that he'd noticed me.

Sitting down behind him, I leaned over his body so that I could see his face. He was still crying, although not as much as before.

"Jack?" Reaching down I touched his cheek. "I've got some water for you." He turned his head a little and looked at the glass I was holding up in front of him. The sparkle that had always been in his eyes was gone, and a sudden fear of him giving up hit me. I'd read about people that lost their will to live, who just perish… What if he'd decided not to fight anymore?

As if he could read my thoughts he hoisted his head up towards the glass. A small sparkle of hope lit inside me and I quickly placed my hand at the back of his head supporting it while holding the glass to his lips with the other. I could tell that he was thirsty by the way he greedily swallowed it. I held the glass back a little though, so that he wouldn't drink too fast, afraid that he wouldn't be able to keep it if he did. I didn't know for how long he'd been without food or water. He emptied the glass, before looking up at me. For the first time it felt like he actually saw me.

"Kim?"

"Yes." I answered, still holding his head while looking into his eyes. There was so much pain showing in them.

"I miss you…" He said, yet another tear sliding down his cheek. I was about to say that I've missed him too, but it looked like he was about to continue to talk and I didn't want to interrupt him.

"…and I lov…"

The door behind me opened and Jack stopped talking, looking up at Austin that now stood in the doorway. I glared at him too. He couldn't have picked a worse time to come in. I'd finally gotten Jack to talk…

All of a sudden Jack threw himself away from the wall, knocking me over. He began to tug violently against the chains, using his whole upper body to repeatedly jerk on them.

"Jack, calm down." I tried to reason with him, as I hoisted myself up into a sitting position again, but I don't think he even heard me as he kept on struggling with the same intensity, as if he was going crazy. "You're hurting yourself…please Jack, stop…" I continued to plea as I watched with horror his wrists starting to bleed again. He had a starry look in his eyes and I realized that I wouldn't be able to reach him with words. With no further hesitation I launched myself at him, landing on top of him. Holding his head down with my arm, I used my body to pin him against the floor. He struggled even harder at first and I quickly placed my arm between his arms and across his chest, taking a hold of his shoulder, still using my other arm to hold his head still. "Please stop… you're scaring me." My voice was trembling.

I held him tightly preventing him from moving too much, until he finally stopped struggling. He was shaking, his whole body gone limp beneath me as deep sobs emerged from his throat.

We were both panting, trying to catch our breaths. I swallowed, placing my forehead against his temple. "It's ok Jack." I whispered softly, trying to calm him. "Everything's gonna be okay. Just hold on a little longer….please." He whimpered, still crying hard. I did everything that I could to hold it together, my heart torn into pieces after watching his desperate attempt to get free. "It's okay. I'm here…I'm here"

His breathing was slowing down a bit and I suddenly became very aware of the position we were in. He was lying on his side, staring into the wall. I had my arm wrapt around his shoulder, while resting my body on his, one leg on top of him. My free hand was rhythmically stroking his hair as I still held my forehead to his temple. I could feel every heartbeat, every breath and every other movement he did. My cheeks started to get warm and a sudden urge to kiss him grew in me. I fought it though. He would probably not like it. We're just friends and it would be pretty awkward afterwards. But what if a kiss would help him, comfort him and give him his sparkle back, just like you see in the movies, a small voice argued with me. I thought about that for a second, but soon realized that I would be the one enjoying it and not him… It wouldn't be fair to him to take advantage of him when he's in this vulnerable state. I hadn't really noticed though that I had slowly begun to tilt my head a little so that my lips were only an inch away from his soaked cheek. God, it was tempting. Just a little closer…

"Kim?!" My head shot up, guilt washing over me. Austin was standing next to me, a worried expression on his face. I had totally forgotten about him. "We gotta go." He said, taking a hold of my arm to help me up. I instantly pulled my arm out of his grip.

"I'm not leaving him." I said.

"You have to, if you wanna save him!" I was a little surprised by the harsh tone in his voice. Looking up at him I realized that he was deathly serious about it and I rose to my feet, not daring to do anything else. The sudden loss of the weight and the warmth of my body, worried Jack, I could tell. "C'mon!" Austin tugged on my arm, fear evident in his voice.

"Don't leave me." The sound of Jack's voice almost made me change my mind.

"I'll be back, soon. I promise." I reassured, as Austin almost dragged me towards the door.

"We gotta hurry." Austin insisted.

Jack turned over onto his back to look at us, desperation in his eyes. "Please, don't go." He begged through his sobs, as he once again tried to escape the handcuffs. "Don't leave me! Please!" His cries were cutting through my heart and I was so close to just run back to him. I hated to cause him more distress. It took all the willpower that I had to block him out and run through the door.

"Kim no…"

I didn't get very far though…

A very familiar car was parked outside. I froze as I realized that Austin wasn't with me anymore and I had just walked right into a trap. Did he set me up?

A tall man got out of the vehicle, his green eyes meeting mine….

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**Sorry about the cliffy... and that I'm probably not gonna be able to update in a few days... so I'm kind of leaving you hanging... I'll be writing as fast as I can though...**

**and there'll be sneak peeks for all of you who review :)**

**/MJ**


	27. My Rival

**AN: Hey...sorry for the late update again...but at least I'm updating.**

**Thank you so much anaross3000, datgirl1065, Anonymously Truthful, pinkrocker12, Hershey9, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWais ted, thunderrussian, RisingSunset, Kickloverrrr, sweetsos209, 1379, RedisforRoses, Randomgirl111111, thebiggestLMfan, Molly127, Guest, Dance Star93, Dreaming2BAWriter, Penquinlover3333, September14Fall, Hgirl, secrets xx, krc93, StripedFuzzySocks, sad-beautiful-tragic, Rachel, Guest, Bluedog270, Guest, Parisbabe224, Kay K 430, Guest, Nerdygurlk13, Bubbles, Aqua468, JACKSON, XxawesomepopsicesxX, 88Keys and Guest, for all you reviews. **

**Wow, that was a lot... You're guys are AMAZING and you're the ones who keep this story going.**

**There have been a lot of questions about who's side Austin's really on... I've made his character confusing like that on purpose. Although after this chapter, I hope that there'll be no doubt of who he really is...**

**With that said I hope y'all enjoy the chapter:)**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN KICKIN' IT... only my OCs...**

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Chapter 27

**My Rival **

**Austin's pov.**

"Hey take it easy!" I panted, catching up with the Blond in front of me. She had been running almost the whole way through the forest and I could tell that she was getting tired.

"We have to hurry." She said, although she slowed down a bit. "We don't know how much time we have until Mark returns." She had a point…but then again we didn't know if he would ever return. Maybe he'd just been picking up something by the cabin before driving back to his actual hideout… In that case Kim and I were tiring ourselves out for nothing… I chose to keep my mouth shut about that though, following Kim along the trail.

After half an hour we spotted the cabin, perfectly hidden in the deep forest. It wasn't very big and it looked to be completely made out of wood, just like the small shed to the left of it.

I was just about to discuss our possibilities to breaking and entering when I noticed Kim already running towards the door, taking all the stairs in one giant leap. I sighed and ran after her. She turned to me as soon as I got to her with a disappointed look on her face.

"It's locked."

"Well, what did you expect?" I shrugged. She shook her head and started to push on the door instead.

"You're not gonna be able to open it like that." I pointed out, trying my best to keep myself from smiling, as she kept on pulling and pushing on the door, ignoring my statement. Her stubbornness was so adorable.

She had that look in her eye that told me that it would be no use talking to her. So I just shook my head and took a look around, quickly making it around the cabin. There were three windows. One of them was blocked with boards and the other two were pretty high up on the wall, making them hard to climb through, but not impossible. I just needed something to break them with…

The shed instantly popped up in my head and I swiftly made it over to it. Maybe I could find some useful tools in there… Opening the door I realized that the place was filled with junk, but in one of the corners I spotted a shovel that would do just fine. The tricky part was to get to it…There were so much stuff in there that I had to literally climb in, knocking a few things over, while ripping my jeans.

"Great…" I mumbled before reaching for the shovel. It was still a bit too far away and as I stretched my arm out to grab it, I lost my balance and almost fell, hadn't it been for the shelf in front of me that I managed to grab a hold of at the last moment. I accidentally hit a can standing on it though, causing it to fall over and revealing its content. It took me a moment before I saw the key that had fallen out of it. Studying it, I realized that it must be the key to the cabin. I mean there wasn't any other door around here that it could possibly fit…

Regaining my balance I grabbed the key and stumbled back out again. I closed the door to the shed; not wanting to leave any trace behind me, although if someone would open it, they would notice right away that someone's been in there, tumbling around…

I chuckled as I saw Kim still trying to open the door when I returned. She's never giving up, is she?

"You might wanna try this." I said, holding up the key in triumph. She turned around, giving me a confused look.

"Where did you find that?"

"Over by the shed." I pointed towards it.

"How did you know where to look?"

"I didn't." I shrugged. "I just went over there to see if there were any tools that we could use to break through the door or a window. I found this on one of the shelves…" I handed the key to her, pretty happy to be able to provide her with it. She must be at least a little impressed….right?

"You go inside." I said. "I stay here and watch in case Mark comes back." I didn't feel safe to just walk inside without any clue of what would be going on outside.

"Okay" She agreed without questioning me, turning around.

"And Kim…" I stopped her just before she'd unlocked the door, meeting her gaze. "If you need me, just call. I'll be right outside."

She smiled at me and opened the door as I watched her from behind. She looked around the place to make sure that it would be safe, before entering, closing the door behind her. I didn't like that she hadn't left it open, but I figured that everything was alright, since she had seemed calm. Besides Mark had left so it was impossible for him to be here.

I walked away from the cabin, stopping on a spot where the suns rays burst through the foliage. The birds sang as I closed my eyes enjoying the warmth form the sun. Coming from New York, I wasn't used to this kind of heat. I loved it though.

At first I hadn't liked the idea of going here, but it had actually been a pretty interesting morning. Not to mention all the time I got to spend with Kim. My lips formed into a smile as I thought about the blond beauty. She was truly something extraordinary. Even though I could get a little frustrated by her, I really admired her determination and courage. She had insisted of going here, although she knew that the chances of meeting Mark, the man who tried to kill her, were pretty big. Mark was the main reason I didn't like this, but after seeing him driving off my worries had faded a little and I felt that both me and Kim were pretty safe at the moment.

I threw a glance at the cabin, wondering if she'd found something that would be useful in her search... My smile faded as I was reminded of the reason why we were here. The reason Kim refused to turn back…the reason the sickening feeling also known as worry lingered in my body…Jack.

I knew that Jack was in trouble and that he most likely needed help… but a part of me wished that we would never had gone here and that Jack would never be found. Ashamed of my selfish thoughts I turned my attention back to the forest. Selfish…that's what I was… Jack was a nice guy and he didn't deserve to go through whatever Mark had done to him. I didn't know what Mark had been up to or why. All I knew was that he had been mad enough to shoot Kim. I shuddered. Just the thought of ever coming eye to eye with Mark scared me. I couldn't imagine how Jack's doing, being forced to stay with him….We were doing the right thing here…I knew that. It's just that, I've seen the way Jack looks at _her_. I've seen the way he acts around _her…_ All of that would have been ok with me, if it wasn't for that way _she_ looked at him…_that's _what really worried me.

The sound of a car approaching in the distance pulled me out of my thoughts. Quickly realizing that someone was coming and that that someone most probably was Mark I turned on my heel and ran as fast as I could back to the cabin. I had to get Kim out of there…

I practically threw the door open and bolted inside. But I didn't get very far until I froze to the spot, eying the scene before me.

Kim was sitting on the floor, next to a boy. I figured the brown haired boy must be Jack, although I barely recognized him. His face was covered with bruises and blood and the tear streaks down his cheeks were shimmering in the dim light.

"Oh God…" I mumbled quietly, not at all prepared that Jack would be there, not to mention the horrible state he was in. It was hard to believe that it was the same boy who had been annoying me with his cockiness and overprotection of Kim, a little more than a week ago. He had been so full of life and energy, and now…now he was just lying lifeless on the floor, crying…

Kim was holding his head up as they both turned their attention towards me. I felt really awkward, realizing that I had been interrupted something by the look on Kim's face. She had been crying too, I could tell. No wonder really…If I was feeling this bad about witnessing this, then I can't even imagine what she must be going through… After all Kim and Jack were as close as two friends could be…a bit too close for my likings…

I locked eyes with Jack for a brief moment. His brown pools were like empty holes with nothing but pain showing in them. My stomach turned, despising my own thoughts. How could I even be thinking about how bad I wanted Kim to be mine instead of his, that I'd almost wished we wouldn't find him? I opened my mouth to say something, but before any words could escape my lips, Jack threw himself from the wall and into Kim. She had been looking at me and him suddenly bumping into her caused her to fall over. Jack didn't seem to notice though as he kept trashing around like crazy. It wasn't until now that I realized that his hands were cuffed and attached to the wall next to him and his legs were held together by a chain, tightly wrapt around them. He now seemed to use every bit of energy and strength that he had left to break free.

"Jack calm down." Kim said as she sat up again. "You're hurting yourself…please Jack, stop…" I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was scared, and frankly I was too. My feet seemed to have been glued to the spot and I was unable to bring myself to do anything. I'd never seen anyone act like this before and I didn't know what to do. Kim was able to think though and she jumped on top of him, holding him down. "Please stop…you're scaring me." Kim tried to reason with him as she struggled to hold him still until he finally stopped abruptly, panting hard. Kim seemed tired as well as she rested her forehead on his temple, trying to catch her breath. "It's ok Jack." She whispered so quietly that I barely could hear it over Jack's sobs. "Everything's gonna be ok. Just hold on a little longer…please." She was still lying on top of him, holding him. My heart ached of seeing them so close to each other and I felt a bit awkward. I was truly the third wheel here.

"It's ok. I'm here…I'm here." Kim continued to whisper soothingly, which seemed to have a calming effect on him.

After a few seconds I'd finally recovered enough from the shock after witnessing Jack's mental break down, that I was able to use my brain again. Remembering the luring danger outside, I swiftly made my way over to them.

"Kim?!" She looked up at me surprised. "We gotta go." I said and bent down to pull on her arm, knowing that she probably wouldn't move from him, without some kind of physical force. My prediction turned out to be correct as she wrenched her arm out of my grip.

"I'm not leaving him." She said, clinging to him.

"You have to if you wanna save him!" I blurted out a little harsh, but I was desperate to get her out of there before Mark could get to us. Thankfully I had been convincing enough for her to stand up. I pulled on her arm again. "C'mon!" We'd lost so much valuable time and I prayed to God that it wasn't too late.

"Don't leave me." Jack begged, surprising me. I hadn't really expected him to speak.

"I'll be back soon. I promise." Kim reassured as I frantically tried to get her closer to the door. She just wouldn't move fast enough.

"We gotta hurry!" I almost yelled knowing that every second counted.

As if things couldn't get worse, Jack rolled over and looked at us.

"Please don't go." He begged. I could hear him rattling the chains behind us. He was probably wishing more than anything that he could come with us, but that was impossible at the moment. We needed to get away. If not, we would be trapped in here by Mark and if that happened Jack would surely have no chance of getting free anytime soon.

I didn't have time to explain that to him though and he started to panic.

"Don't leave me!" He cried. "Please!" I ignored it as all my attention now was on the car that I could see through the door that had been left slightly opened. My heart raced. Mark was already here. Frozen to the spot, I didn't notice that Kim had pulled away from me and was rushing through the door until it was too late.

"Kim no…" I tried to warn her. She obviously didn't hear me, as I had spoken too quiet, not wanting Mark to hear me. At the same time she made it through the door I reached out and closed it behind her. My mind wasn't really aware of what my body was doing at that point. I just instinctively felt the need to close it in an attempt to hide.

Immediately feeling like a coward, I debated with myself whether I should go out to her or not. At first that seemed to be the only good idea…but I found myself too scared to open the door and reveal myself… Again guilt and shame filled me. Why couldn't I be brave like Kim?

Realizing that Mark didn't know who I was and that I was there, I came to think of that I might be able to help without needing to get outside anyway. He would be outside busy dealing with Kim… leaving me the opportunity to come up with some sort of plan… I don't know if I made the right choice, but at least it made me feel a bit better… I was worried that Kim would get hurt though and I knew I had to think of something fast.

I turned my attention to Jack, who was lying on his back looking up at the ceiling, still crying while repeatedly saying the words 'please don't leave me' to himself.

I made it over to him, to take a better look at him. He didn't seem to notice that I was there at first, as he looked right through me. I felt sick, watching him. He looked even worse up close. How could anyone be so cruel to do this to anybody?

I didn't know Jack that well, but from the moments we've spent together and from what everyone has told me I'd gotten the impression that he was a strong person, both physically and mentally and to see him all broken like this was really disturbing. It felt as if the hope was already lost. Maybe we were too late after all…

"Jack?" He stopped mumbling and looked at me. I was a little surprised that he seemed so alert all of a sudden and I didn't really know what to say. The silence was soon broken as Jack chose to speak though.

"Why are you here?" He asked weakly.

"We're here to save you." I said, trying to make him feel better. He closed his eyes and I smiled, believing that I'd succeeded. I was wrong though… With a swift movement he rolled over to his side and placed his face in his hands, sobbing again.

"Please don't…" He had to make a pause to catch his breath. "…say stuff like that…" I frowned, surprised by his words. "...It hurts so bad…" He whimpered.

"Why? Don't you wanna get rescued?"

"More than anything…" He spoke into his hands, his voice shaking.

"Then why are you so sad?" I asked, noticing that the chain around his ankles was only kept in place by a carabineer.

"…'cause it'll never happen." He wept, even though I was already crouching, unwrapping the chain that held his legs together.

"Of course it will." I reassured him and threw the chain aside. "Why wouldn't it?"

"Because you're not real…" His body was trembling slightly as he still kept his face hidden from me. I felt really bad for him. Was he so beaten up that he no longer could tell if the things around him were real or not?

"I'm real." I said. "Can't you feel me?" I placed my hand on his leg, shaking it lightly to make my point. When he didn't show any signs of noticing me, I grabbed the leg for real and moved it slightly apart from his other. "I already removed the chain, see."

Jack slowly brought his head up, glancing at me through blood shot eyes.

"You're real?" He sniffed.

"Yes" I smiled at him, before eyeing the handcuffs, frowning at the sight of how badly they'd injured his wrists. By the looks of the secure attachment to the wall, it wouldn't be easy to free him. I stood up searching the place with my gaze.

"Do you have any idea of where the key might be?" I asked him. He didn't respond right away, eying me as if he was still trying to comprehend that I was really there. "I'm gonna need it to unlock those." I said, nodding towards the cuffs.

"Mark has it." He replied quietly, letting his head down again. I let out a sigh. Of course he would have it. Makes sense, really. The problem still remained though…

Maybe if there was a screwdriver or something somewhere, then at least I could disconnect him from the wall and he would be able to leave this place.

"Where is he?" Jack wondered, sounding worried. I gave him a questioning look, not knowing what he was talking about. "Where's Mark?" The knot in my stomach grew as I suddenly remembered that he was just outside...and worse yet; Kim was there with him.

"He's outside." I said, frantically looking around, trying to think of something.

"Does he know you're here?" Jack was getting more anxious as he noticed how stressed I became all of a sudden.

"No, not me…" I answered. By coincidence I spotted a small item on the window ledge above the place where Jack was lying on the floor. Recognizing the item as a key I instantly reached for it. Could it possibly be… I didn't want to get my hopes up and I told myself that the key probably was meant to unlock something somewhere else. But there was a chance that this key would unlock the cuffs. It was small but I had to at least try it.

"…he's only seen Kim." I said, while leaning over him. My hands shook slightly as I tried to work as fast as I could. "We have to get out and help her." I hoped that my words would bring him his spark of life back. It looked like he'd given up. I had expected him to be excited when I told him that he wasn't gonna have to be stuck in this misery anymore, but instead he just lay there not seeming to care. He didn't even seem to care that I'd mentioned Kim. That scared me to be honest, as I was fiddling around with his restrains. The key didn't fit the cuffs, but it did to my relief, fit the padlock that connected the handcuffs to the hitching ring. Within a second he was free…or at least as free as possible at the moment…

The problem was that Jack didn't react. He still lay on the floor not even trying to get up.

"C'mon Jack." I said, shaking his shoulder gently. "It's time to go."

"I can't…" He whispered, staring into the wall as new tears were forming in his eyes.

"Yes you can. Why wouldn't you…?" I was a little unsure of what to do. I'm not the comforting kind of guy and watching people cry made me uncomfortable, especially another guy… but I knew that he needed help and at the moment I was the only one who could provide him with that. "I've removed all the things that held you down." I said, hoping that he would realize that it was indeed possible for him to leave.

"…Alan…" He mumbled, covering his face with his hands.

"Alan?" I was confused now. Did Mark have a partner? In that case we were in trouble… Kim was in trouble... "C'mon Jack, we gotta go." I pulled on his arm, but he pulled back. Desperate as I was I got more assertive with my tone. "Mark's outside and Kim's there. You've got to come! Are you just gonna lay there and feel sorry for yourself?!" I shook him quite violently, trying to get him going. All I did was to piss him off though. "You can't give up now! Not without even trying!" His head shot up suddenly and he looked me straight in the eye.

"Don't you think I've tried?!" He raised his voice, making me back off a little. Tears were rolling down his cheeks. "Don't you think I've tried…" He repeated, more softly this time. "Don't you think I've tried to fight him off? Or to leave?"

I believed he had. I'm pretty sure that many of his injuries he'd caused himself as he'd most probably been putting up a fight. I didn't blame him though. I would have done all within my power to leave a place like this. "I can't take him…" Jack sniffed, resting his head back against the floor again.

"Of course you can take him." I said, not really believing my own words. If Jack had been the way he used to be, there is no doubt that he would've taken this guy down easily…but under the circumstances, I wasn't so sure. "Jack, Kim nee…"

"Kim's dead!" He cut me short, hurt showing in his expression.

"No she's not." I shook my head. Had he actually believed that? "She was just in here. Didn't you see her?" He looked at me in silence, blinking away a tear. I swear I could see his brain working, trying to process what I'd just said.

"You mean…you mean you saw her too?" I could hear a small beam of hope in his voice and I smiled. Finally he seemed to get it.

"Yes. Now c'mon." I stood up and reached out my hand for him to grab. "She needs our help." He still looked unsure and I wondered what it would take for him to realize that we had actually come for him and all this would come to an end…

As on cue, a shriek was heard from outside, piercing our ears. The voice had a female ring to it and there was no doubt of whom it belonged to. It worked as a trigger for Jack to burst into life. He shot up from his lying position, ignoring my out stretched hand, which he would've needed, because he had as much control of his body as a new born calf when he stumbled to his feet. It looked kind of funny and in another situation I would have laughed, but knowing the background story it was only sad to watch. I reached out and grabbed his arm to support him until he'd found his balance.

"Take it easy" I mumbled, just before another scream was heard making my heart race.

"KIM!" Jack screamed back as he pulled out of my grip and headed for the door. I smiled, following him. Finally, he's back.

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**OK so Jack is finally free, but now Kim's in trouble instead... and Austin turned out to be a good guy, a coward- yes, but still a good guy...even though Jack never really liked him...**

**So my dear readers we are starting to get closer to the ending of this story. Only four chapters left... I've sort of come up with a sequel though. I have a whole notebook filled with ideas for it, but I haven't started to actually write it and I'm not entirely sure that I will. Depends on you guys a little, to be honest... There's poll on my profile where you can vote, whether you'd like a sequel or not...or you could just let me know through a review...**

**I'm gonna write as fast as I can to get the next chapter up asap...**

**See you on the next chappie:)  
/MJ**


	28. Fighting a Mad Man

**AN: Hi, Chapter 28 is here:)**

**I just wanna thank everyone that has reviewed the last chapter:) So thank you XMusicIsMyReligionX, RedisforRoses, GottashipKick, Dreaming2BAWriter, RED, pinkrocker12, Randomgirl111111, Kendra, thebiggestLMfan, Guest, Aqua468, Anonymously Truthful, krc93, StripedFuzzySocks, sweetsos209, Candyrebel23, thunderrussian, dubs666666, Molly127, Hgirl, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWais ted, RisingSunset, Penquinlover3333, XxawesomepopsiclesxX, TheWildRosie, Nerdygurlk13, chloegurl98 and TeddyBear98. I honestly get inspired and write faster thanks to you guys:)**

**Oh one more thing...Kim still doesn't know about Alan or Tess (who may or may not occur in this chapter...). She just calls Mark...Mark I guess. I hope that you'll be able to tell who he is anyway...**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin it...**

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Chapter 28

**Fighting a Mad Man**

**Kim's pov.**

I stood frozen to the spot as I locked eyes with the tall man who'd just gotten out of his car. He seemed just as surprised as I was. After just standing and staring at each other for a few seconds he opened his mouth as if to say something but no words would come out, instead his expression changed into a more nervous one, as he started to realize that he'd been found again. I don't think he'd meant to show weakness, but he kind of did when he wasn't able to mask his worries. The brief display of insecurity from his part made my fears temporarily go away, leaving room for another feeling to consume me; anger.

"You!" I hissed through gritted teeth. He instinctively took a step back even though I wasn't that close to him. There were several yards between us actually and I realized first later that it would have been the perfect opportunity for me to run. I didn't however. Maybe it was foolish of me but seeing the man, who'd caused Jack so much pain, stirred the hatred to life in me and instead of leaving I started to approach him.

"What have you done?" I muttered, despise filling my voice as I thought about how much he'd destroyed. He was still too stunned to move or to say anything. All he did was watch me as I got closer and closer to him. "What have you done to him?!" I yelled, tears of anger filling my eyes. I stopped right in front of him. He looked scared, which only added to my confidence. Not being given any answer soon enough I shoved him forcefully in the chest. "I hate you!" He stumbled backwards. Taking a step forward I closed that gap between us again. "I hate you! I hate you!" I repeated banging my fists against him, a tear rolling down my cheek. He was still unable to do anything more than backing off, holding his arms up to shield himself, as I wouldn't give him the chance to recover from one blow to another. Frenzy had taken over me and I couldn't stop. Using all the power I had I managed to get in a few good hits, causing him to groan in pain. As strange and barbaric as it sounds it was satisfying to see him cringe from my attack. I wanted to hurt him, so that he at least would feel some of the pain he'd put Jack through and I swear I wouldn't have stopped until he was more or less dead, if it hadn't been for him suddenly grabbing a hold of me. All the emotions in me had caused me to be sloppy in my fighting technique…or to be correct I don't think I had been using any technique at all and that was the reason he'd been able to catch my swinging arms that easily. I was a little taken aback by his sudden grip, and I stopped moving.

The tears that flooded my eyes had prevented me from seeing the change in his features before it was too late. Holding a steady grip of my forearms, he smirked.

"Well Good day Kim. Glad you could make it." The fear that had been so obvious in his eyes was now completely gone and replaced with arrogant confidence. He looked almost satisfied to see me, as if he'd planned for me to come. That thought scared me and I instinctively struggled a little to break free from him. He ignored me, not letting his firm grip loosen one bit. "We've missed you...thought you were dead…but you're not. What a miracle." He smiled. "Jack's gonna be so happy to see you. He's been a little low lately…" He explained in friendly tone. But it wasn't the kind of tone that would make you feel safer. It was the kind of tone that causes the hair on the back of your neck to rise, like the one that the witch uses to lure Snow White to bite the apple. That kind of tone… "…have you been inside already?" He nodded towards the cabin. I didn't answer him, as my brain was too busy trying to read him. What was he trying to do? I needed to know so that I would be able to stop him. I frowned, thinking about Jack, still lying helplessly inside the cabin. Mark noticed my change of expression. "I take that as a 'yes'." He said. "Then you've must've already met him…" I gave him a glare and for a second I thought I saw something resembling to fear breaking through his calm expression. "Is he still there?" I could hear the worry in his voice and I realized that he feared that I had freed Jack. As much as I wished I had, that was not the case. Unsure of what else to do I gave him a nod. "Good." He said. "How about paying him a little visit?" He pulled on my arms towards the direction of the back of the car. When we were at the trunk he let go of my left arm to use his hand to open it. Big mistake from his part.

With a swift movement I twisted my other arm free, before bringing my left foot up just to smash it into his stomach. He bended over clutching the place I'd just kicked, cursing slightly. Not intending on missing this opportunity like the last one I turned and ran. I didn't know exactly where. All I knew was that I needed to get as far away from him as possible.

I'd expected him to come running after me, but he didn't. He chose a much more effective way to stop me.

"Run if you wish, but I've still got Jack!" He yelled. I stopped, not knowing what to do. Should I run and leave Jack behind again? If I did that then I would have the chance to go and get help. "The further you run the more pain Jack will be in!" His voice came from behind me again.

The threat of him hurting Jack even more was what made me make up my mind. Jack was already so beaten up that I wasn't sure if he would be able to survive more. Mark watched me as I slowly turned and walked back again, a huge grin on his face, knowing that he had won. The only way out of this seemed to be to fight him. I didn't know if I was going to make it. Mark was big…and strong, and adding the fact that he was mental and highly unpredictable made him terrifying. Both I and Jack have taken numerous of thugs down before, without me ever feeling an ounce of fear. This was different though. I'd seen what he'd done to Jack. I'd seen what he was capable of doing. Jack hadn't been able to defeat him, and he was a much better fighter then I was… Would I even have the slightest chance of beating this guy?

I tried my best not to show how scared I was. That would only make me look weak, giving Mark even greater advantage. Instead I prepared myself mentally for the fight that I couldn't afford losing.

"I knew you would make the right decision." He said, once I was almost back at the car. He gestured for me to come even closer. "Come here. I've got something to show you." He had already opened the trunk and was now watching every step I took. I walked very slowly, not taking my eyes of off him either. Careful not to come within his reach I tried to get close enough to see what he was hiding in the trunk.

"It's ok. I won't bite." He grinned. Yeah right… Inching closer to him, I brought my hands up in a defensive way, ready to strike if I needed to. He took a step back, making me tense by his movement. Continuing to back off he gave me enough space so that I could walk all the way up to the car without him being able to reach me. I debated if I should stay passive and wait to see what happens or if I should attack him. A fight was unavoidable anyway, and if I attacked first I would have the advantage of surprising him. He held his hands up in surrender while stepping away even further. Knowing for sure that he wouldn't be able to get to me that quick, I dared to take my eyes off of him and look at what was in the trunk. I had half expected it to contain weapons or a corpse or something. Actually I don't know exactly what I'd expected, just something awful and to find it almost empty made a really creepy feeling engulf me. There were just an ordinary tool box, a white plastic bag filled with something that was hidden from me and a few photos scattered round. I gave Mark a questioning look.

"Go a head…" He gestured towards the trunk. I guessed that it was the photos that he wanted to show me and I hesitantly reached for them. The first one showed a much younger Mark, holding his arm around the shoulders of a blond woman. In front of them stood a small girl, not older then three or four years old. Her glowing hair gave her away immediately. They all seemed happy as they smiled into the camera. I could see some of Tess's features in the woman and my best guess would be that this woman was Tess's mother. The rest of the pictures were all on the now very familiar ginger-haired girl.

"Do you know who that is?" Mark asked me from behind.

"Yes…" I said, not looking up from the photos in my hands, which turned out to be a mistake. If I'd only pulled my gaze away from the photos for one split second, I would've noticed that the spot where Mark had stood was now empty.

"Do you know what happened to her?" His questions were almost enchanting, as they got me lost in my thoughts, unaware of what was going on around me. I frowned. Did I really know what happened to her?

"She died in a car crash." I said hesitantly, as that was what we'd all been told, although I wasn't sure. Anxiously I waited for him to say something and giving me the answer I had been searching for quite some time now.

"Correct." He said emotionless. "And do you know why?" I wrinkled my eyebrows. Was there a reason? It was a car crash… an accident. Accidents are accidents because…you know, they're accidents. They're never meant to happen and there are no ulterior motives… are there?

"No" I shook my head, finally looking up. I barely had time to register that Mark had moved from his original place before a hand coming from behind clasped over my mouth while an arm wrapt itself around me pinning my arms to my body. The set of photos I held in my hand fell to the ground as I struggled to get free. With a forceful jerk, causing my whole body to lift from the ground for a second he tightened his grip of me, pressing me against his body. I stopped struggling, realizing that he was too strong. He held my head back against his shoulder as he talked quietly close to my ear, his tobacco smelling breath tickling my neck.

"You wanna know why she died, hmm?" He said bitterly. "It's because of your dear Jack." My eyes widened. Was he accusing Jack for her death? As if he could hear what I was thinking he said.

"Yeah that's right, Jack killed her… I've been trying to teach him a lesson that you don't go around killing other people like that." Was that what this was all about? He must've gotten it all wrong. Jack hadn't killed her. I mean, he was with us the whole weekend and even if he hadn't, Jack would never do such a thing, ever. Of course I wasn't able to say anything in his defence as Mark still held a firm hand over my mouth. "He's pretty stupid though. Very easily fooled." He chuckled. "I even convinced him that you were dead." That explained a lot. No wonder Jack had acted so weird when he saw me. I wondered briefly what had been going through his head as I'd been sitting next to him, just moments ago. "I was actually planning on letting you get away. But now as you so most willingly came back to us and exposed yourself to Jack, I'm gonna have to kill you again. This time I won't be making the same mistake of letting you get away though…" He mumbled and leaned into the still opened trunk. I was breathing rapidly, trying to keep myself from panic as I was forced to bend down, being jammed between Mark and the edge of the trunk as he reached for the plastic bag. He'd let go of my mouth as he was now digging for something in the bag.

"Let go…of me!" I gasped out, moving around as much as possible trying to get him to lose his grip of me. Unfortunately he was stronger than I'd thought and I wasn't getting anywhere. Bringing out his hand from the bag, he revealed what he'd been searching for. The silver coloured roll of tape in his grasp made me panic as I started to realize what he was about to do.

"Take it easy there…" He mumbled, doing his best to keep me from slipping out of his embrace. "I'm not gonna kill you yet…" He reassured. As if that would help… Well it did…or at least that's what he thought. I'd come to the conclusion that the more I struggled, the tighter he would hold on to me…so that must work the other way around, right? Letting my muscles relax, I stopped moving and instead tried to figure out what he was planning, so that I would be prepared and hopefully be able to stop him.

"Why not?" I asked, trying to buy me some more time. Doing everything that I could to hide the fear in my voice, I concentrated on what he was going to say.

"You see, you ruined the last time a bit...but I managed to fix things… Problem is that you've kind of ruined it again. But no worries, I'm not mad at you." He smirked, making an unpleasant feeling run through my spine. His arms were starting to loosen a little around me. That's what I had been waiting for…just a little more and I would have enough room to twist myself out of his grip… "…In fact you've just made it possible for me to cause Jack even more despair. Think of how he will feel by watching you die, right in front of him without being able to do anything about it…" His words made me snap and I wrenched myself away from him. Almost losing me, he reached out his hand at the last second and grabbed my arm, forcefully jerking me back to him. I let out a high pitch shriek of surprise and fear as I flew into his hold once again.

I pulled back, without much luck. Mark grunted irritated by my struggling and let go of the duct tape to use both his hands to hold me. My legs were suddenly swiped away from underneath me as he'd kicked hard at them. I fell to the ground, letting out another shriek. Mark placed himself on top of me, making sure that I wouldn't be able to get up again.

"Shut it!" He growled, backhanding me across the face, causing it to sting. Tears burned in my eyes and my heart beat so fast it hurt. Was this was Jack had been going through?

I fought back against him, using all my strength. He was winning though and I had to face the fact that he was too powerful for me.

"Please don't…" I said as I had become desperate enough to plea for mercy. He didn't listen instead he roll me over onto my stomach and sat on top of me. I let out another small cry as my arms were forced behind my back. He pulled them up towards my head until it hurt. The tears started to leave my eyes. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get away from him. Feeling beyond hopeless, I gave up. This is it, I thought, he'd won and he was gonna get through with his plan. I would die and Jack would break into pieces, as if he wasn't broken enough already.

Caught up in my depressing thoughts, it took me a moment to realize that the heavy weight of Mark's body on top of mine had suddenly disappeared. Nothing was holding me down any longer, and I shakily hoisted myself up onto my hands and knees. Confused I scanned my surroundings until I found Mark. My eyes widened and my whole chest spasm at the scene in front of me…

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**OK that was it guys... hope you all liked it in spite of the cliffy...(Sorry about that)**

**I'm off writing the next chapter now...and the more reviews I get the faster I'll update. (because I get motivated to write faster.)**

**There's gonna be a mini sneak peek of the next chapter for those of you who review, btw:)**

**And also the poll is still open whether I sould write a sequel or not... **

**Thank you for reading my story:)**

**/MJ**


	29. Finally Awake

**AN/ Hey guys...so sorry for the long wait...again. I've been struggling a little with this chapter, but I think it turned out well in the end...**

**Thank you so much thatgirlmona, pinkrocker12, bffs are always forever, anaross3000, Accoustic Writer, thechilledhalf, ADayWithNoLaughterIsADayWais ted, sad-beautiful-tragic, Dreaming2BAWriter, Jiggy, .948, themusical, sweetsos209, ThebiggestLMfan, stikenotes, Hershey9, Bluedog270, Dachshundlover, StripedFuzzySocks, Chloegurl98, Guest, sarabear266, dubs666666, Guest, Aqua468, krc93, TeddyBear93, Penquinlover3333, Nerdygurlk13, Guest, Everlasting Faith, GottashipKick, JacknKimforever, Guest, JazzyJasmine24, Molly127, XMusicIsMyReligionX, JulianaRocks, AnonymouslyTruthful and 88Keys. **

**You guys are the best ever. I would never have made it this far without you:)**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 29

**Finally ****Awake**

**Jack's pov.**

I inhaled deeply, pain still throbbing through my limbs after my attempts to get free earlier. Thinking about it, it had been a pretty bad idea to pull on the handcuffs like that. I'd already knew that it was impossible to break them, but still I hadn't been able to stop myself from forcefully struggling against them, which only had caused me more pain.

I still lay on the floor with my face in my hands, trying to decide on what to do. Austin had freed me from the chain, trapping my legs and he had removed the padlock that'd forced me to stay on this particularly spot. I still wore the handcuffs though as he hadn't managed to find the key to unlock them. But it didn't really matter; I would be able to leave anyway. And trust me, there was nothing that I desired more than getting my freedom back, except for Kim still being alive… There was a huge problem though. A problem that stopped me from even trying to get up…

I closed my eyes, letting the tears of anguish fall freely.

"C'mon Jack we gotta go." Austin said, pulling on my arm, sending new waves of pain through it, making me pull back by reflex. Actually his attempts of getting me up were really starting to annoy me. Why didn't he get it? If Mark was outside and I just walked out of here, he would turn into Alan, and Alan would… I swallowed past the lump in my throat. Alan would torture me to death if he caught me trying to escape one more time.

"Mark's outside and Kim's there. You've got to come! Are you just gonna lay there and feel sorry for yourself?!" He said, starting to shake me. He sounded a bit angry which only got me even more irritated. I did not just lay here to feel sorry for myself, even though I clearly had a reason for it… I lay here because I was trying to survive. "You can't give up now! Not without even trying!" My head shot up.

"Don't you think I've tried?!" My voice came out harsher than I'd expected, making him back off. Tears of hopelessness were rolling down my cheeks. "Don't you think I've tried…" I repeated, more softly this time, looking him straight in the eyes. If he only knew how badly I wanted to leave. If he only knew how much I longed for this moment. But now, when I was finally free I couldn't go because of the man waiting outside. Austin just couldn't have picked a worse time. "Don't you think I've tried to fight him off? Or to leave?" I said hoping that he would understand that it wasn't any point in trying. All it would do was to cause me more pain. Actually I was already worried that me not wearing the chain around my ankles anymore would be enough to make an excuse for Alan to beat me senseless. But if I just lay here absolutely still, then maybe he wouldn't be more violent than I'd be able to survive it. I placed my head against the floor again. "I can't take him…" I said quietly, knowing that I'd been defeated and I'd come to accept it. Why couldn't Austin accept it as well?

"Of course you can take him." Austin said from above me. I couldn't believe he thought that. I mean didn't he have eyes? Couldn't he see that I was in no condition to fight? "Jack, Kim nee…"

"Kim's dead!" I cut him off as the painful memory hit me.

"No she's not." He shook his head. "She was just in here. Didn't you see her?" Blinking away a tear, I looked up at him. How did he know that I'd seen her and heard her and felt her unless… Oh my God she really had been sitting next to me a few moments ago...

"You mean…you mean you saw her too?" I asked, wanting to make sure that she hadn't been just a part of my imagination.

"Yes. Now c'mon." He smiled and reached his hand out for me. "She needs our help." A new thought crossed my mind at that moment though. A thought that made me hesitate. What if he was just saying that to trick me to go outside? What if Austin worked with Alan? What if this was all just a game they played with me for their own amusement?

I was quickly torn away from my thoughts as a heart breaking scream was heard from outside. Well, it was heart breaking for me anyway, recognizing that voice instantly. I scrambled to my feet, pushing aside the pain it caused. My legs barely held me up though. They just wouldn't obey my commands, no matter how hard I tried to force them. The chain being wrapt around my ankles had partly cut off the circulation and I'd lost the feeling in my swollen feet. Panicking I tried to get control over my body, almost falling over. I needed to get to Kim. Austin reached out and grabbed my arm, before I could hit the floor. He supported me for a few seconds, until I'd finally found my balance.

"Take it easy" He mumbled, just before another scream was heard. Oh no…

"KIM!" I screamed, pulling out of Austin's grip. I somehow managed to get to the door without my legs giving in. Not having the power over my body as I used to, made me really upset. I needed it in order to save Kim. For every step I took though, the control over my movements slowly started to increase, but so did also the pain.

I swung the door open and ran out on the porch. The sight that met me made me stop for a split second. The blond owner of my heart was indeed there. My angel was actually there. She was crying though, pinned to the ground by no other than the Monster himself. My Kim had returned only to be taken away from me again. As if losing her once hadn't been bad enough.

She was lying on her stomach, with Alan sitting on top of her, holding her arms behind her back. He pulled them up in a way that I knew was painful to her. The scene was truly infuriating to watch and all of a sudden all my fears for the tall green-eyed man were gone. All I could feel was anger, pure and complete _anger_.

I was sick of him hurting us and for the first time I was able to do something to stop him. I wasn't gonna let that chance slip away. With adrenaline pumping through my veins I jumped off the porch and charged at him. He didn't notice me until it was too late. My body collided with his, sending him to the ground with me closely following. I was a little surprised at just how powerful my move had been as it caused us both to roll over a couple of times before coming to a halt about fifteen feet away from Kim, our bodies lying next to each others.

I quickly pushed myself off the ground, before Alan was able to comprehend what'd just happened. From my hands and knees I jumped him again. Managing to climb on top of him, I placed one leg on each side of his body, pinning his arms to it and holding him down the same way he'd done to me so many times before. Raising my still cuffed fists together in fury, I could see a glimpse of fear in his eyes. It meant nothing to me at the moment though and the next second my fists had already made contact with his face. He cried out in pain as I hadn't gone easy on him, using as much force as I could behind my punch. Luckily for him I was weak after everything that had happened to me during my time in captivity and the damage I caused wasn't as severe as it would have been otherwise. But it was enough to give him a black eye, that would soon start to show. Not giving it a second thought I hit him again. This time it was his jaw that had to take most of the blow, sending his head sideways. He spat a few times, blood mixed in with his saliva. He struggled to get up, but I wouldn't let him. I was far from finished. The hatred inside me made my blood boil and I completely lost my mind. Not caring about that I'd always been taught not to hit a man when he's down, I went against my own principles and prepared myself to strike once again.

I wanted to make sure that he would never hurt me or the ones I loved ever again and this was my chance. Pulling back my fists even further, to increase the distance between them and the man beneath me allowing my punch to gain more speed and power…

"DAD!" He suddenly screamed, a horrified expression on his face. "He's hurting me!" I froze, watching him tear up.

"Tess?" I mumbled confused. Realizing what I wasn't only hurting Alan, but Mark and Tess as well, I lowered my hands. I knew that they'd been behind much of my agony as well, but they never really meant it and by hurting them I was no better than Alan, now was I?

He started to move, trying to get up and too stunned to do anything else I let him, sliding off of him and sat on the ground. I shot a glance over at my friends. Austin had helped Kim to her feet and they now stood watching us with a mixture of fear and confusion. The adrenaline was coming off of me and I was starting to shake from exhaustion after pushing my weakened body to the limit.

All of a sudden I saw Kim's eyes widened.

"Jack!" She exclaimed pulling away from Austin. I didn't have the chance to react before I was sent sideways to the ground. Pulsing pain started to spread across the left side of my face as I shot a glance up at the man who'd just punched me. I moved my jaw around a little to see if it still worked and thankfully it did. It hurt really bad though and I couldn't bring myself to get back up. Just as I had foreseen I'd ended up lying on the ground in pain while Alan victoriously towered above me.

"Stay where you are." He warned, holding up his hand in Kim's direction, making her stop. Having control over the situation again, he chuckled. "See I told you he was stupid and easily fooled…"

I mentally scolded myself, realizing that he'd been Alan the whole time. He'd only pretended to be Tess so that I would let my guard down…

Kim met my gaze and for the first time in what felt like an eternity I felt peace, if only for a short moment. If I only could've reached out and touch her… She was so close but yet so far away.

I'm sure that Kim felt the same at that point and it looked as if she was about to approach me again, but stopped as Alan started to speak.

"One more step and he'll pay." He said. Kim looked from me to him with a horrified expression, but didn't say anything. "Now go back to your friend." He gestured towards Austin who stood a bit further away, anxiously watching us. Kim's feet seemed to have stuck though as she looked at me again. I could tell she wanted to come over to me and she was probably trying to figure out a way how to do it. I wished that she would come up with something fast, because I didn't know how much longer I would be able to manage without her near.

Suddenly I let out a groan and broke the eye contact as Alan's boot collided with my stomach. Pressing my hands over my abdomen, I curled up, my eyes squeezed shut.

"Jack!" Kim exclaimed. I could hear the fear and worry in her voice and she probably hoped that I would answer her, but I couldn't. The air had been knocked out of me and I struggled just to breathe.

"Now back off or…." Alan said as he prepared himself to kick me once more.

"Don't!" Kim interrupted him. "I'll back off, just don't hurt him. Please." I could hear Kim's footsteps slowly retreating, heading in Austin's direction.

"That's better…" Alan said satisfied, lowering his foot to the ground again and placing it next to me.

Still unable to move through the pain, I lay on the soft ground listening to them as a lump in my throat started to grow. I couldn't believe I'd been stupid enough to think that I would have a chance of defeating him. After everything I'd been through I should've known that he would always be one step ahead of me.

So many thoughts ran through my head at that point. I tried to think of what I could've done differently, what I could've done to prevent this from ever happening. The worst part was that just moments ago I had him. I freaking _had him_. I could've ended it all and I could have been with Kim on my way home right now. Instead I lay completely beaten down in the dirt, waiting for Alan's next move. A move that I knew would most probably hurt in one way or another…

My breathing had started to go back to normal and the worst pain had subsided. The weight on my chest had increased though and it became harder to keep myself from breaking down and cry. Everything felt so hopeless… and all because Alan had managed to fool me… he'd _fooled_ me…

Somewhere in the middle of all my depressing thoughts an idea popped up in my head as I realized that two could play at this game…

I wasn't sure it would work… probably not…but there was a chance and that was enough for me to give it a go… I hadn't much more to lose anyway...

My body sank if possible even deeper down into the soft dirt as I relaxed my muscles. I let my jaw drop, leaving my mouth slightly open and I breathed as softly as possible. The pain throbbing through most parts of my body became suddenly very distinctive, but I tried to ignore it as I concentrated on the man next to me.

"Jack?" I heard Kim, but I remained silent. "Jack, please say something." The way her voice wavered told me that she was about to cry. As much as I hated to hear her like that, this was in a way the reaction that I'd wanted and it looked as if my plan was working. "Jack?"

I could feel Alan nudging me with the tip of his boot and it took everything I had not to flinch as his foot bumped into one of my bruises.

When I didn't react Alan bent down over me to check if I was still a live. I held my breath, just waiting for the right moment. He leaned in a little further. I think he was about to say something but he never got the chance…With a rapid movement I reached out and grabbed his arms, pulling him down at the same time as I twisted my body in under him, placing a foot just beneath his ribcage. I've done this move so many times before, but this time it was so hard to do. My body was so weak and hurt I let out a small cry as I pushed with my leg while pulling on his arms, flipping him over me.

He landed on his back with a thud. I did my best to get to my feet quickly. It was extremely hard to push through the pain though and my weakened body was about to give in any second. But I had to get up, knowing that if he managed to get to his feet before me I was doomed. We were doomed. The brief thought about Kim and how much was at stake gave me the last bit of energy that I needed. I got onto my knees and with adrenaline rushing through my body and with willpower more solid than a mountain I threw myself at him. Raising my fists I gathered all the frustration, all the fear, all the sorrow, all the pain and all the anger that he'd cost me into one single blow. Screaming I released the power and my fists came crashing down his temple, sending painful shocks up my arms. Alan stopped moving instantly, his arms falling down to be lying lifelessly on either side of his body.

I panted, every muscle in my body shaking from exhaustion. The tears began to slide down my face as I placed my hands on the ground to support myself. I was so tired.

"Jack." I turned my head and saw through the black dots that blocked some of my vision, Kim coming towards me. Even though I knew that I would eventually be in her arms, it felt like it would be an eternity before she'd reach me and I needed her. Now.

Thinking that I could meet her halfway I hoisted myself up, placing one foot on the ground. Never letting my eyes off of her, I tried to push myself up onto my feet. But before I could reach a standing position my leg gave away underneath me and I collapsed. I closed my eyes, preparing myself to hit the dirt once more. Two caring arms embraced me before I could though.

Kim had apparently been closer than I thought.

Holding me tightly, she slowly sank to the ground. I'd fallen sideways into her arms and was now resting my head against her chest.

"It's ok Jack." She said softly as she sat there, slowly starting to rock me back and forth. "I've got you." Her warmth made me feel safer than I'd been in a long time and through her chest I could hear her heart beat. The heart beat that told me she was alive. I think that's when I finally got it. That was the moment I finally let myself believe that this was actually happening. The lump in my throat grew to a size that almost made me choke and I struggled to get my words out.

"You're real…" I whimpered. "Oh my God you're really here…" I pressed myself deeper into her warm embrace, closing my eyes. The relief I felt from this whole nightmare to be over was overwhelming and all the emotions just wanted to get out at once. Unable to hold it together any longer I broke down, sobbing uncontrollably. Still wearing the handcuffs I couldn't wrap my arms around her like I wanted to. Instead I took hold of the sweater she was wearing, up by the shoulder. Gathering enough fabric to fill both my palms, I clutched it as hard as I possibly could in my feeble hands, revealing a part of her shoulder and probably ruining the garment in the process. At the moment I didn't care though, I just wanted to make sure that she wouldn't disappear from me again.

Her hand was soothingly rubbing circles on my back, distracting me from the pain, which I very much appreciated.

"You're not dead…" I confirmed quietly with a voice that was weak and shaky due to my supply of oxygen running low from the convulsive crying I was doing.

"Of course I'm not." She said. "I promised you I wouldn't die, didn't I?"

I was instantly reminded of the scene in the basement where she had given me a hug and I had made her promise that she would make it out alive, just seconds before she was forcefully taken away from me. The thought of her remembering and keeping her promise almost made me smile…or I tried to smile but as the corners of my mouth was about to pull up, my jaw started twitching and my face contorted, leaving me no other choice but to let the powerful sobs out.

"It's ok. It's over." Kim mumbled, tightening her arms around me, probably feeling as if I was about to fall into pieces from the way my body was violently shaking. My sore and bruised muscles ached at her action, making me flinch slightly. "Sorry." She apologized and let go a little, causing a knot to form in my stomach.

"Don't let go." I whined, pressing myself harder against her, terrified to be left alone. She tightened her embrace again, more carefully this time. It still hurt a little though. But I was determined not to show it, holding back a moan. I so desperately needed the safety, comfort and love she provided me with that I couldn't let the pain in my body stop me from getting that. I sniffed loudly, trying to keep the mucus from leaving my nose, although, some of it already had and it was now covering a larger part of my upper lip. It wasn't fair. I'd longed for this moment for so long and now when it finally was here, I was too beaten up to fully enjoy it.

"Don't worry. I won't let go." She reassured, resting her head on mine. I could tell she was taken by the situation as one of her tears had found its way down in between her cheek and my temple. "I'm not gonna leave you. I promise, and you should know by now that I keep my promises." A warm feeling came to life inside my chest and slowly began to spread, knowing that I could trust her and she cared for me. It almost felt as if she placed a kiss on the top of my head, which made the pleasant feeling grow faster. Slowly but surely the destructed heart of mine began to heal. I could literally feel her touch magically making the emotional pain fade.

A pair of footsteps was coming from behind Kim and I tensed slightly.

"Is he dead?" I heard Austin anxiously ask. He must've been talking about Alan, who I'd almost forgotten was lying right next to us. I didn't know if I'd killed him and frankly I didn't really care. Closing my eyes, I tried to relax in Kim's safe embrace while listening to them talking. It's strange how I was so weak and tired I could barely move and yet my muscles were refusing to rest, keeping shaking and contracting.

"No, he's still breathing." Kim answered him. Oh so he wasn't dead. That's too bad…

"Hm…how's he?" Austin asked concerned, probably meaning me. Kim didn't reply. Instead she placed a hand on my swollen cheek, wiping away a few tears with her thumb. My stomach made a small flip at her touch.

"Jack?" I opened my eyes and tilted my head slightly backwards so that I could look her in the eyes to show her that I was listening. Judging by the look on her face and the way she gasped, I must've shocked her. Did I really look that hideous?

Not feeling comfortable with exposing my face any longer I attempted to hide it again. Kim noticed and gently slid her hand from my cheek and placed it under my chin, lifting my face up again.

"You're bleeding." She stated worriedly. Was I? I hadn't noticed, but it made sense considering how wet and hurt my face felt. "Maybe we should go inside and clean you up." She suggested.

"No" I shook my head and clung to her tighter, placing my head in the crock of her neck. "I can't…" I started, but had to stop as I felt a new sob was building up and if I would have continued to talk it would have burst out of me.

"It's ok. You don't have to…" She reassured me and I felt a lot calmer. I never wanted to set foot in that cabin ever again. I just wanted to go home with Kim and forget everything that had happened. In other words, I wanted my life back.

"How do you feel, Jack?" Kim asked as she began to stroke my head, rhythmically. I closed my eyes, enjoying her fingers combing my hair.

"Hurt." I answered truthfully, not crying as hard as before, which made it a little easier to talk. Kim stopped her hand at the back of my head, carefully pressing me even closer to her, while placing her cheek against my head.

"I know you're hurt." She said softly, her voice slightly cracking. "But could you be a little more specific? Where does it hurt?"

"My arms…and my face…" I said quietly, before inhaling a shaky breath. "Those are probably the worst…"

To be honest most parts of my body hurt to some extent. Not to mention all the emotional pain I had to deal with… A lot of the physical pain was bearable if I just kept still though and the ache in my heart was already healing as every second in Kim's embrace made me feel better.

"Look what I found." Both of our heads shot up by the sound of Austin's voice. Well Kim's head shot up anyway, I just kind of turned my head slowly so that I could look at him, careful not to lose any physical contact with Kim while doing so. Austin had already crouched next to us when I finally laid my eyes on him. He reached out for my hands. Suddenly feeling very insecure I pulled back, still holding on to Kim's sweater as if my life depended on it.

"It's ok Jack." Kim said, noticing my reaction. I felt a bit silly actually. I wasn't really scared of Austin, it had only been a reflex due to the past days experiences.

"Here…" Austin mumble, carefully taking a hold of the handcuffs around my wrists. Because of my refusal to let go of Kim he had to twist them around so that he could place the key he'd been holding in the keyhole. A few seconds later they were unlocked and he swiftly removed them from my wounded wrists. Even if the cuffs didn't weigh more then 15 ounces it felt like a ton had just been lifted from me.

I locked eyes with Austin for a brief moment, suddenly feeling very grateful of him being there.

"Thank you" I said sincerely, before snaking my arm up behind Kim's neck and letting my other find its way around to her back. Pressing me against her, I started to cry again. But this time the tears came from joy and the wonderful feeling of being able to hold her in my arms again.

"I love you Kim." I whispered so quietly that I don't think she heard me, which was okay since I hadn't really meant for her to do that. Feeling the need to say it but not having the courage to tell her, I mainly spoke to myself, as I hugged her tightly, burying my face in her hair. "I love you so much."

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**There you go, finally some kick at the end... and not much of a cliffy...**

**I have couple of announcements to make; There's only two chapters left of this story and I'm gonna do my best to get this finished before the end of March. And one of the reasons to why it has taken me so long to update is that I've been working on the sequel. That's right there's gonna be one, since so many wanted it:) The plot is done, so now I just have to write it;P **

**Please don't forget to review:)**

**/MJ**


	30. Returning Home

**AN/ Hi everyone. I am really really sorry for the long wait. I feel like I've been letting you guys down, big time... I honestly have no better excuse than this; I've been busy and the chapter took a lot of time to write. It turned out to be SUPER long and I've been debating with myself whether I should shorten it or not. I was thinking about deleting some parts, but I couldn't decide which parts to skip and then I figured that you probably wouldn't mind reading it all... At least I hope you won't...so it's all there...**

**I also want to say that I think you guys are amazing. All your reviews is what really makes me a better writer. Thank you so much.**

**OK I think I'm done now... Only got one more thing to say; Enjoy the chapter.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 30

**Returning Home**

**Kim's pov**

Being too shocked by everything that was taking place, I was unable to do anything more than watch with a mixture of confusion and horror as Jack climbed on top of the vicious man, before forcing his fists down his skull.

I blinked, just to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. Last time I'd checked Jack had been an emotional wreck, lying helplessly on the floor inside…. About that... How did he get free?

Throwing a glance back at the cabin I spotted Austin, who seemed to have frozen just like I had. Realizing that he must've helped Jack, I felt guilty for ever doubting him. The tall teen noticed me staring at him and met my gaze. As if locking eyes with me was all he needed to come out of his trance he quickly made it over to me and helped me to my feet.

He was about to say something when Mark suddenly let out a scream. A scream for help I think.

"DAD!" Whipping our heads around at his exclamation, we watched with confusion. Had he really called for his dad? "He's hurting me!" He continued, sounding utterly afraid. His cries worried me a little. Was his dad around here somewhere? In that case we would have another problem to deal with, as if things weren't bad enough already…

Mark's sudden change of behaviour seemed to have surprised Jack too, as his fists stopped mid-air. Mumbling something under his breath he lowered his arms slowly, never letting his eyes off the man beneath him. Mark struggled to get to his feet and Jack didn't do anything to stop him. Instead he slid off him and sat on the ground, still lost in his thoughts.

The tall man got up and brushed off his clothes but neither I nor Jack paid much attention to him as we were too busy locking eyes with each other. It only lasted a couple of seconds though and before anyone was able to react Mark aimed a punch at Jack's head.

"Jack!" I screamed, but I was too late. Mark's fist collided with Jack's face, knocking him to the ground. Feeling as if my heart just got cut in half I started towards the boy I loved more than anything in this world, dreading the worst. He was already so beaten up that I feared that he wouldn't be able to take more.

"Stay where you are!" Mark commanded, holding up his hand in a gesture for me to stop. It worked. Taking one look into the green eyes, I knew that I'd do best to obey. Mark smirked, obviously satisfied with how things were working out. "See, I told you he was stupid and easily fooled…" He mocked and if Jack hadn't been lying so defenceless at his feet, I would have come up with some sort of comment about Jack not being stupid. But in our current situation I knew better than to do that. Instead I shot a glance at Jack, who had tilted his head so that he would be able to look back at me. His brown eyes held so much pain and fear that I could barely stand it and I instinctively started to approach him again.

"One more step and he'll pay." Mark warned, making me stop once more. "Now go back to your friend." He nodded towards Austin. I didn't really pay attention to what he was saying. All I could think about was how bad I wanted Jack to be alright again. I wanted to hold him and make all his sufferings go away. I wanted to make him smile again.

For a moment I considered to just run up to him, ignoring Mark's demands. But before I could do anything Mark sent a kick to Jack's stomach. The impact caused Jack curl up into a fetal position while letting out a moan of pain.

"Jack!" I exclaimed, on the verge of tears now. After just one look at Jack's face I had known that he'd been beaten and abused, but to see it actually happening was something completely different. It was the worst thing that I'd ever witnessed and it tore my heart apart. I never want to see anything like that ever again.

"Now back off or…." Mark said, lifting his leg to kick him again.

"Don't!" I screamed, my heart skipping a beat. "I'll back off, just don't hurt him. Please." I managed to say as I slowly backed towards Austin, never taking my eyes off of them.

"That's better…" Mark smiled as he, to my relief, put his leg back down.

My mind was racing, desperately trying to come up with something that could save Jack. I looked at the unmoving form that was my best friend. He was lying very still. Too still…

"Jack?" I called his name, trying to hide my worries. A sickening feeling filled my gut when he didn't respond nor react. "Jack, please say something." The lump in my throat made it hard to get the words out and still not seeing any signs of him being alive, caused the tears to fill my eyes and I fought hard to hold them back. "Jack?"

Mark looked down at his victim, obviously also noticing the disturbing lack of movements from Jack's part as he nudged him with his foot. Still not getting any reaction he bent down over him. I prayed that Jack wouldn't be dead. If he'd turned out to be, I don't know what I'd do…

Just when I thought that he really was gone Jack literally burst into life, gripping Mark's arms and pulled him down towards himself as he lifted the rest of the man's body over his own, using his legs. Mark flipped over Jack and landed on his back. Confusion flashed across the green eyes and before he was able to react, Jack had already launched himself at him, throwing a well-aimed punch to his temple, knocking him out cold.

After taking a very brief moment to just let it all sink in I practically ran up to Jack who was sitting next to the lifeless body. He turned his head. Never taking his eyes off of me, he attempted to stand up. I was only a few steps away from him when his legs crumbled down beneath him. Taking a leap forward I managed to catch him before he'd hit the ground. He was heavy though. Quickly realizing that I wouldn't be able to hold both him and myself up, I carefully let us sink towards the ground.

"It's ok Jack." I said, gently rubbing his back. "I've got you."

"You're real…" Jack whimpered, burying himself into my chest. "Oh my God you're really here." He clutched my sweater for all he was worth and started to sob uncontrollably. I'd seen him sad and even tearing up a couple of times before all of this happened, but he never really cries, at least not when other people are around. That's why I'd been so scared and worried when I first saw him in the basement a few days ago. But back then he'd cried more softly and composed and he'd been utterly upset. Now he cried like a baby –literally- not caring if anyone saw or heard him for that matter. His sobs were loud, piercing my soul and his whole body was shaking. He was devastated.

"You're not dead…" He choked out.

"Of course, I'm not dead." I said as cheerful as I could, hoping that my words would calm him and cheer him up, if only just a little. "I promised you I wouldn't die, didn't I?"

Much to my surprise and worry he started to weep even more. Hyperventilating he whimpered and whined hysterically as his tears fell down on my chest and I seriously thought that he would soon pass out from lack of oxygen. I was scared. Scared that I'd lost my best friend. Scared that he'd been too deeply hurt to be able to heal again. A tear escaped my eye at the helpless feeling of not knowing what to do to help him through this.

"It's ok. It's over." I soothed and tightened my arms around him, wanting to give him a sense of safety. He immediately winced, reminding me that he was still in physical pain.

"Sorry." I apologized releasing my grip, which caused Jack to cling to me even tighter.

"Don't let go." He whimpered through his sobs.

"Don't worry. I won't let go." I said hugging him tighter again, while resting my head on top of his. His shoulders were rising and falling along the uneven rhythm of him crying. "I'm not gonna leave you. I promise, and you should know by now that I keep my promises."

Before I could think or stop myself I placed a kiss on the top of his head. Slowly I could feel him relax against me and it didn't feel like he was gonna choke on his own sobs any longer.

"Is he dead?" A familiar voice came from behind me. It took me a moment to recall who the voice belonged to. I'd been so occupied with Jack that I had forgotten about Austin and Mark who was still lying next to us. Figuring Austin must've meant Mark, since Jack made it pretty clear that he was still alive through all the noises he made. I threw a quick glance at the man, mentally scolding myself for not having checked on him already. What if he'd woken up and attacked us while we were sitting here?

"No, he's still breathing." I stated, watching with mixed emotions his chest rising and falling. I was in a way relieved that Jack hadn't killed him. Jack wasn't a murderer and I wanted him to stay that way, but knowing that the body next to us was very much like a ticking bomb that could go of any second made me very uneasy.

"Hm…" Austin said thinking, before nodding towards the boy cradled in my arms. "How's he?" The afro-american looked scared and confused, obviously shocked over this whole situation. Jack's behaviour was really disturbing to watch for both of us. I didn't blame Jack though, instead the longer he kept crying the stronger my feeling of wanting to be there for him grew. I wanted to give him everything that I had and more. I wanted to protect him and comfort him. I wanted to make him the happiest person on earth and I would dedicate my life to accomplish that.

I looked down at Jack while carefully caressing his cheek, catching a few tears on their way down while doing so.

"Jack?" He turned his head up and looked at me through watery eyes, tears still steadily leaving them. His face was red and gleamed with the salty moisture. The cut on his lip had started to bleed again along with his nose, probably from the last hit he took to the face. His lips quivered slightly as he let small sounds escape from them. I couldn't help but gasp a little, causing Jack to break the eye contact and turn his head to its previous position. I stopped him though, sliding my hand that had been resting on his cheek to under his chin, tilting his head backwards.

"You're bleeding." I said, concern filling my voice. "Maybe we should go inside and clean you up."

"No" Jack protested immediately and hid his head in the crook of my neck, his whole body tensed. "I can't…"

"It's ok. You don't have to…" I said quickly not wanting him to get even more upset. Using the hand I had touched his face with, I started to stroke the back of his head. Austin probably felt awkward watching us and he was smart enough to realize that we needed our space. He quickly turned his attention towards Mark. Kneeling beside the man he checked for his pulse before going through his pockets. I didn't know what he was doing nor did I care. All I could think about was the heartbroken brunette seeking comfort in my embrace.

"How do you feel, Jack?" I wondered, dreading the answer.

"Hurt." He said weakly, into my shoulder. Just hearing him say that was enough for me to wanting to cry and I struggled to keep it together. The Jack I knew would never admit he was hurt no matter how obvious it was. The fact that he did now only proved how deeply scarred he must be. I squeezed him comforting.

"I know you're hurt." I said softly, trying to keep my voice from cracking. "But could you be a little more specific? Where does it hurt?"

"My arms…and my face…" He said quietly, before inhaling a shaky breath. "Those are probably the worst…" I was about to ask him more when Austin suddenly spoke.

"Look what I found." Turning my attention towards him, my eyes quickly landed on the small key he held in his hand. Before I could comprehend what it was for Austin was already reaching down to Jack who cringed, obviously startled by his actions.

"It's ok Jack." I said, reassuringly rubbing his shoulder.

"Here…" Austin mumbled as Jack allowed him to come close enough to be able to unlock the handcuffs that were trapping his hands. Jack who was still resting his head against me watched him carefully as he removed them.

"Thank you." He said weakly, looking at Austin. Austin gave him a smile before Jack let go of my sweater and snaked his arms around me, holding me tightly. I was surprised at how strong he was even in this state.

Austin made it over to Mark again and started to push on his side. I looked at him curiously over Jack's shoulder.

"What are you doing?" I wondered as I saw Austin pushing the man over onto his stomach.

"I'm just making sure that he won't bother us any more..." He answered, pulling Marks arms behind his back and securing them with the handcuffs Jack had been wearing. "Just in case he wakes up…" He mumbled before adjusting the body into a lateral recumbent position. I was actually pretty impressed by his ability to think and act the way he did under the circumstances. I was way too emotional to think let alone do anything more than holding on to Jack.

"I'll be right back." Austin said, standing up and headed for the cabin. I didn't ask what he was up to, fully trusting him, besides I was too occupied with Jack. His body was still shaking and that worried me.

"Jack… everything's gonna be okay. I promise…" I whispered, rocking him slightly. "We're gonna go home and he's never gonna hurt you again." He didn't respond but he seemed to calm down. I kept mumbling comforting things to him until his sobs finally came to an end. His arms that had been locked around me started to loosen; telling me that he'd begun to relax.

"Kim?" His voice still trembled slightly as he spoke into my hair.

"Mmm...?" I pulled away just a little to be able to look at him. He tensed again, probably worried that I would let go and his grip prevented me from getting much distance. However I managed to lean away from him _just_ enough to meet his eyes. I felt a blush spreading across my cheeks, our faces so close to each other that our foreheads almost touched and I could feel his warm breath brushing against my skin. The position would've been awkward just a week ago and I wondered if Jack would be comfortable with this. Strangely enough it didn't seem to bug him and he didn't do any attempts to move. Not that I minded neither him nor the butterflies he always seemed to know how to stir to life inside me…

"I…" He started. "I've…I…" When it didn't seem like he was going to be able to say what was on his mind anytime soon I cupped his cheek with one of my hands and he immediately leaned into it, closing his eyes, just like he'd done back in the basement. The tingling feeling inside me increased as he showed me how much he really enjoyed my touch.

I started to rhythmically stroke his cheek with my thumb, slowly leaning forward until our foreheads met. He kept his eyes closed and his arms were still wrapped around me. I could feel his hand moving in small circles across my back, following the same slow and even rhythm of my thumb. I closed my eyes too, letting myself soak in the fact that he was alive and we were finally together again. Neither of us said anything for a few minutes. There was no need. His touch told me everything I needed to know. The thought about telling him how I felt for him crossed my mind. I wanted to tell him how much he meant to me, how much I cared for him. I wanted to tell him that I loved him. But I didn't seem to be able to gather enough courage say it.

"Thank you" He whispered barely audible, after a moment of silence. Even though his voice was faint I'd never experienced anyone being more sincere. His gratefulness was projected from every part of his being. You hear people all the time saying that they're doing whatever they're doing, whether it's working with kids, treating ill or helping in any other way, they're doing it because it's so rewarding and they get so much back. I thought I knew what they meant by that and I thought I'd experienced it before. Wrong. It turned out that I hadn't got a clue of just how rewarding it could be. Not until that experience on the forest floor, that morning. I'd just shown Jack a little care, a little love, not merely enough considering what he'd deserved and yet he was already giving back tenfold. I don't know how he did it but all the emotions he was sending over to me, moved me deeply and I felt if possible even more affection for him. If it hadn't been for the door to the cabin suddenly opening, revealing Austin I probably would have kissed him right then and there. The sound that the door made seemed to have startled Jack and he quickly returned to his previous position, hiding his face in my hair. I gave him a gentle squeeze to tell him that everything was alright, while looking at Austin who was on his way over to us, carrying a few blankets under his arm and balancing a tray with a glass of juice and the plate that had been placed on the floor next to Jack earlier in his hands.

"Here…give him this." He said when he'd reached us, giving me the glass. "I've called 911. They're already on their way." He explained as he unfolded the three blankets, placing two over Jack who tensed but didn't say or do anything. "We just gotta make sure that he stays warm…" Austin was back to mumbling as he swiftly but carefully tucked him in. Again I was surprised by how focused Austin seemed to be and I was glad that he was there. I don't know how far I would have come or what I would've done if I'd been alone.

"Jack?" I patted his head and held up the glass filled with juice to him. He turned, facing it but didn't make any attempt to grab it, not wanting to let go of me. I brought the glass a little closer to him and he responded by leaning forward and placing his lips against it. Carefully I tilted it and let him drink. Meanwhile Austin was checking up on Mark. He'd placed the last blanket over the inanimate body before placing his hands on different parts of the man's face and throat. I watched him curiously until he looked up, meeting my gaze.

"Mum's a nurse." He answered the question I had written all over my face with a shrug and stood up. "She taught me a thing or two…"

Being too caught up with watching Austin I had stopped my hand from tilting the glass and Jack was unable to drink the rest of it. Growing impatient, he finally let go of me with one of his hands and grabbed the glass, guiding it to his mouth again. His grip was pretty weak though and I kept holding on to the glass just in case.

"I'll be back soon." Austin said and headed back inside, leaving me once again alone with Jack… and Mark. Jack finished both his drink and his meal very quickly, making me wonder how long it'd been since he'd eaten. There just didn't seem to be an end to the cruelties he'd been suffering.

The teen in my embrace started to move and I loosened my arms letting him adjust into a more comfortable position until he was half lying, half sitting with his right shoulder and head resting against me. His left arm was snaked around my waist while the other was lying resting over my lap. I pulled the blanket up over his shoulders and pressed his body slightly against me. Closing his eyes he snuggled his face into my chest. He seemed tired and his relaxed body, which thank God had stopped shaking, felt heavy.

It didn't take long until Austin came back outside. This time he was carrying a bucket with water and a plastic bag. Putting the items down next to us, he squatted and brought out the rag that'd been floating in the bucket. The sound of the water pouring from it when he squeezed it caused Jack's eyes to open. The brunette immediately pushed himself against me forcefully and I had to brace myself to keep us from falling over. His hand placed on my waist clutched my sweeter as he worriedly watched Austin.

"It's ok Jack." The sound of my voice made him freeze.

"Here, you should probably do it…" Austin said, handing me the damp rag. I brought it carefully to Jack's face in an attempt to clean it from all the blood and dirt that was covering larger parts of it. Jack cringed and tried to move away, hiding his face into my chest. His actions hurt a little. Didn't he trust me?

"Jack." I said, leaning my head down so that my mouth was close to his ear. "I would never ever hurt you."

"I know…" He whimpered. "It's just that…" I could tell he was close to tears and I quickly let go of the rag and hugged him.

"Please don't cry." I was surprised and worried about his reaction and it wasn't until later that I found out what kind of memories it'd brought back to him. "Tell me what's wrong." Austin and I exchanged worried glances before looking at Jack who still refused to look up. "Jack? Please tell us. What are you so afraid of? I was just going to clean you up." I continued to speak while stroking his head. "Jack, just look at me, please. I'm sorry if I scared you and I swear I won't do anything that you don't want me to. Okay?"

Slowly he turned his head, revealing his troubled expression. He'd managed to keep it together, but only just and I knew that it wouldn't take much for him to lose it.

Carefully I brought the rag back up to him, but not to his face, instead I held it in a position so that he could easily reach it.

"You want to do it yourself?" I asked. He pondered for a moment, his eyes flickering from me to the rag and back again.

"No…" He shook his head slightly. "You do it…"

"Are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to do something that would upset him again. He gave me a nod and I carefully started to wipe the blood off his face. I could feel his whole body tensing at first, but when he realized that nothing was going to hurt him he closed his eyes and relaxed. It actually looked as if he enjoyed it. Once it was done Austin helped me to apply an antiseptic cream that he'd found inside, to the cut on Jack's lower lip and to his wrists as well.

Neither of us said anything for quite some time. We just sat there enjoying the warm sun as we waited for help to arrive. Jack seemed to have fallen asleep against me. Not wanting to stir him in his sleep I'd kept as still as I could, which had caused a few parts of my body to go numb. I couldn't care less though.

Suddenly a low groan was heard from the man lying next to us. Austin gave me a worried glance, before looking at his watch.

"They should be here any minute." He said. I knew that he hoped as much as I did that help would come before Mark woke up, but of course we did have no such luck.

The previously so lifeless body started to move under the blanket covering it. The movements were small at first but soon increased. Austin got up on his feet and towered above the man, ready to act if needed.

"…I know…I know Tess…" Mark mumbled quietly. "…what has he done?...I didn't….no Tess…" I looked confused at Austin who just shrugged. The things Mark was mumbling made no sense, but then again he'd just started to wake up from being hit in the head…and he wasn't exactly sane before the blow either...

"…I don't…The boy…the boy…" Mark went quiet for a moment, still keeping his eyes closed. I held my breath, watching him. Maybe he'd passed out again…

"JACK!" He suddenly exclaimed. The boy who'd been peacefully asleep in my arms jerked awake. Curling up, he pressed himself against me. Mark opened his eyes and looked around, confusion written all over his face. It didn't take long until he found what he was looking for though and he soon fixed his eyes on the brunette. Jack cringed under his gaze and I locked my arms protectively around him. There's no way I would ever let Mark hurt him again.

"Jack…" He started, his deep voice a little hoarse. "What are you doing out here? You should be inside…" Jack didn't answer him, but I could feel the boy tensing. Mark moved, probably trying to get up when he noticed that his hands were secured behind his back. I could see a quick flash of panic in the green eyes as he struggled to get free. I debated with myself if I should let go of Jack and make sure that Mark wouldn't get away, but I couldn't bring myself to release my hold of my friend. Austin looked as if he was about to jump the man when Mark abruptly stopped moving and lay still on the ground, turning his gaze to Jack again.

"Jack" Mark said in a very friendly tone. "Why don't you help me get these off and we can all go back inside? Your friends can come too." Jack just shook his head. "I'll make you something to eat. You must be starving." When he still didn't get any response from the boy his tone got firmer. "Jack. Get these things. Off. Me. Now."

"No" Jack whimpered.

"I'm warning you; if you don't get these off and go back inside this instance I will send Alan on you!" The threat made me and Austin exchange confused glances. Was Alan Mark's father, who he'd called for earlier? No matter who Alan was, the threat had an effect on Jack, who instantly hid his face and started shaking. This got me really mad. I'd finally calmed Jack down and now Mark had to upset him again.

"Hey, why don't you shut it?!" I spat. "You're not allowed to talk to him."

"Says who?" Mark snorted.

"Says I!" I hissed, shooting daggers at him. He looked a little taken aback for a moment or two until something flickered in his eyes and a smirk grew on his face.

"You kids think you've outsmarted us…" He chuckled, looking at the trembling boy. "I'm surprised Jack. I thought that we'd established the importance of listening to Mark…" He shifted a little, making Jack winch. "Jack. Do as you're told and your friends will not be harmed." I rolled my eyes at his silly threat. He was actually pretty harmless where he lay handcuffed on the ground. However Jack was clearly intimidated by him.

"Please…" Jack pleaded and tried to sit up straight. Afraid that he intended to obey Mark, I quickly pulled him towards me again.

"Don't listen to him Jack. He's just trying to scare you." I said. "He can't do anything to hurt us."

"This is ridiculous…" Mark muttered clearly annoyed of the situation. "Don't say I didn't warn ya…" He growled and hoisted himself up into a sitting position. He'd moved fast and with such determination that it actually scared me a little, not to mention how much it scared Jack, who'd jumped against me with such force that he almost knocked us over. Mark never let his green eyes off his terrified prey, as he was about to get to his feet. But before he could Austin threw himself at him tackling him to the ground again.

The man struggled to get free from under the teen and just when I was wondering how much longer Austin would be able to hold him down, the sound of sirens blasted through the forest. I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me as the first police car came into view. Mark's previously so smug expression turned into one out of fear and he panicked. There was no way that Austin would let him get away though. Several vehicles arrived, even a helicopter soared above the tree tops and before we knew it the whole place was filled with police officers and paramedics.

I instantly recognized Mr Graham among them. In fact he was the first one to get to Mark.

"You?!" Mark spat. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh I think you know…"Mr Graham said as he and a partner of his pulled Mark to his feet.

"Get your hands off me!" Mark snarled, pulling back. The chief inspector ignored him and with bitterness in his voice he said;

"I always knew it would end like this Mark."

I watched with a confused expression as Mark was led away to one of the police cars. It sounded as if Mr Graham and Mark had met before, which is kind of strange considering that Mr Graham had been acting as if he didn't know who Mark was back at the hospital. And Mark hadn't really been known to the police before all of this…or had he?

I was brought back from my thoughts as Jack shifted nervously in my embrace.

He was obviously uncomfortable with all the noises and people running around and he clung to me as if his life depended on it. Of course he along with Mark was the centre of everyone's attention, which didn't make it any better. People were throwing questions to all of us and so much happened at once that I had a hard time comprehending what was going on.

Jack didn't answer many of their questions with more than just a simple 'yes' or 'no'. Some questions he didn't answer at all. Not that I was much better at providing neither the police nor the paramedics with any valuable information. Yet again I must give Austin extra credit for being cool and sharp enough to be able to put words on what had happened. He was currently standing by one of the police cars talking with the officers, occasionally gesturing towards the cabin or to us.

Meanwhile I and two paramedics struggled to talk Jack into letting go of me so that they could bring him with them. The whole time they were checking him over, while trying to get him to tell them how he felt, so that they could start getting a picture of his condition. It was hard though. Jack wasn't exactly cooperative and after twenty minutes of trying to convince him that there was nothing to worry about without much luck, their patients began to run out. One of the paramedics placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, gently pulling him backwards and away from me. I too leaned back a little, increasing the gap between us. The feeling of slipping away from each other caused Jack to panic though and he practically threw himself at me again, wrapping his arms around me and held on as tight as he possibly could.

"Please don't let them take me." He spoke into my shoulder, his voice cracking at the end.

"It's ok. They're not gone hurt you." I reassured, feeling like I'd let him down when I'd helped them to force him away from me. "They're gonna take you to the hospital."

"But I'm fine." He whimpered, looking at me through watery eyes. "I just need to go home." I placed my hands on either side of his face holding it in place, while looking into his brown polls. "Please"

It pained me not to be able to grant his wish. But I knew that he needed medical care and he had to go to the hospital, for his own good.

"Jack, you're not fine." I said softly. He knew what I was getting to and he frowned.

"Please…" He pleaded again, his lips trembling. Looking into his eyes at that moment and knowing that what you're about to say next was the opposite of what he wanted to hear, was heartbreaking. I sighed.

"Jack, you need to go. They're gonna help you." He closed his eyes, causing the tears to spill over while contorting his whole face into a grimace of hurt. "They're gonna make the pain go away, so you can go home again." I said, trying to stop the sobs that I knew was on their way. My words didn't help though and he started to cry. He was still resting his head in my hands and I used my thumbs to wipe his tears away.

"Why…?" He swallowed. "Why can't I go home now?"

"Because we don't know what kind of injures you have." A female paramedic answered. The sound of her voice caused Jack to break away from my hold and hide his face in my shoulder again.

"I wanna go home with you Kim." He said quietly. The fact that I seemed to be so important to him made me feel all fuzzy inside and to tell you the truth there was nothing that I wanted more than to take him home with me.

"Jack it's critical that you get to a hospital as soon as possible." The woman said again. "You're friend can come too."

"You hear that Jack?" I said, looking down at him. "I'll be coming with you." Knowing that I wasn't going to leave him seemed to have a positive effect on him and after taking a moment to calm down, he finally agreed to get in the ambulance. He still refused to let go of me though so placing him on a stretcher was out of the question. Instead he insisted on walking up to the ambulance, of course with me closely by his side, supporting him. Even though I wasn't family everyone seemed to agree that it would be best if I rode in the ambulance with him, to keep the stress level to a minimum. Not that we had much of a choice. I couldn't get more than a few inches away from him before he would start to freak out.

Well inside the vehicle they were able to give him some sedatives and he agreed to lie down on the stretcher. The drugs made him drowsy and it looked as if he was fighting to stay awake. I took his hand and he immediately grabbed a hold of it.

I felt calm and relieved knowing that it was all over. Mark was captured and would hopefully be locked in prison for a very long time. Jack was saved and both me and Austin had made it without getting ourselves harmed or killed. The whole rescue mission had turned out to be a great success and now we could go back to living our lives again.

I squeezed Jack's hand while caressing his cheek with my other hand, looking into his half opened eyes.

"Everything will be alright." I whispered.

* * *

I sat on one of the hard chairs, nervously fiddling around with my bracelet. It's been over two hours since they'd disappeared down the hallway with Jack. I threw a glance in the direction in case they'd decided to reappear. Seeing nothing that could indicate on them coming back, I turned to look at my hands again, today's scenario playing over and over again inside my head. I occasionally tried to think of something else, but without much luck.

The doctors had given me a check-up even though I had clearly stated that I was okay. I had actually been a little annoyed that they would waste time on me when there were other patients that needed them more. Jack for instance. They'd soon realized though that I'd been telling the truth when they couldn't find anything out of order and I'd been good to go.

Austin had, to my annoyance, been worried and called my mother while I was seeing the doctor, which had caused her to more or less freak out and it'd taken me a while to reassure her that everything was fine with me. I understood her worries though, when she heard that her daughter who was supposed to be in school had gone to search up the man who tried to kill her…

She was at the moment sitting next to me, reading a magazine, although I could tell that she wasn't really interested in the articles.

She had arrived at the hospital about half an hour after we had, along with Jack's parents and the rest of the warriors. When they spotted me and Austin in the waiting room they had practically jumped us with questions. We had done our best to answer them and I think they all had a pretty good picture about what happened, although we left out quite a lot of details, not wanting to worry them too much. I'll probably tell them later though, once every one has gotten over the shock. _Shock_… that's probably the best word to describe what we were all going through. I looked around. No one had said anything for the last fifteen minutes and everybody seemed to have spaced out, lost in their own thoughts. I didn't mind the silence in the room though. In fact I welcomed it as it let me focus on Jack. A small wave of guilt hit me. I'd promised Jack that I would be with him really soon before he was taken away. Problem was that time was ticking and I was afraid that he would start to worry about me not returning to him.

Thinking about how he'd clung to me earlier made my stomach flip for two completely different reasons. One; it almost made me feel sick knowing that he must've gone through truly horrible things to act like that and two; he had wanted to be close to me, holding on to me with such determination that the paramedics and I had almost to use force to get him to let go...

Sure we'd always been close and he had been the centre of my world for the past two years, but I'd never really thought that I meant that much to him. All the emotions he'd showed me as we'd sat in the forest had been overwhelming. His hug had been to most heart-warming and sincere that I had ever been lucky to receive and I realized in that moment that I probably was as important to him as he was to me and there was a possibility of him even loving me. The newly gained knowledge made me all warm inside.

We'd shared the tenderest moment I'd ever experienced with anyone and to be apart from him now was if possible even more painful than before.

I turned to my mother.

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom." I told her quietly, getting up from my chair. She gave me a nod and a weak smile, before returning to her magazine. I could feel the rest of the gang looking at me with interest and I avoided looking back at them, making clear that I rather not be talking to anyone of them at the moment.

Hurrying down the corridor I turned the first corner to the left and headed for the door with a big WC sign on it.

When I was done and about to head back out again I caught a tired and strangely looking blond staring at me through the mirror on the wall. She looked strange because she was supposed to look like me and yet she didn't. Her hair was a mess, there were dark circles under her eyes and the front of her shirt was covered with blood stains.

I quickly combed my fingers through my hair, untangling it slightly in an attempt to make me look like me again. When it didn't work I splattered my face with water as if I could wash away the surface and reveal the real me hiding under it. Even though it wasn't much of a use to help me with my look, the cool water was refreshing and I didn't feel as tired anymore.

After drying off my face I unlocked the door to head back. But I barely made it out before a couple of deep brown eyes met mine, startling me.

"You ok?" Austin asked.

"Yeah…" I answered quietly, suddenly remembering the traumatic morning and a weird expression covered my face. Austin noticed, quickly stepping towards me and wrapt his arms around me. I'm sure he meant well, but I felt a bit uncomfortable knowing that the hug most probably was something more than just a friendship hug to him and I pulled away.

I looked at him awkwardly. He'd seemed to have frozen, trying not to show the emotions that was going on inside of him, but I could tell that he'd been hurt by my rejection.

"It's Jack…" He trailed off, looking past me as if he was trying to find the right thing to say, but was obviously unable to. I sighed, breaking the awkward silence.

"Look Austin, you're a great guy and any girl should be lucky to have you…" Placing my hand on my chest for emphasis, I searched his eyes with mine. "Honestly, and I feel privileged to have you as a friend." He gave me a weak smile.

"But nothing more than a friend though…" He muttered quietly, looking down, causing me to feel bad.

"I'm sorry…" I said barely louder than a whisper as if speaking too loud would make my words hurt him even more. "…but my heart belongs to Jack. It always has…" He still kept his gaze on the floor as I delivered the final blow. "I love him, Austin…" It was the first time that I'd admitted my feelings for Jack for anyone and it maybe seems strange that it happened to be Austin, who I hadn't known for more than a week and a half to be the first one to know, but I felt that it wasn't fair to deny the truth for neither of us any longer. I took a deep breath before continuing. "I love him…and I just realized that he might feel the same for me. And even if he doesn't, I wanna be there for him as a friend, in the same way that I hope you'll be there for me…" I looked at him hopefully. He was quiet for a moment before smiling at me.

"You know I'll always be there for you." He reassured before turning serious. "I just hope Jack realizes how lucky he is… If he ever tries to do anything to you I swear I'll…"

"I'm sure you will." I said cutting him off while teasingly nudging him. He let out a small chuckle before straightening out his face again.

"Kim I'm serious." He said.

"I know…" I smiled. "But I don't think that you will ever have to worry about that." He shrugged.

"You never can be too sure." His eyes were a little brighter and he didn't feel as down as just minutes earlier, which made me feel better. I met his gaze and I became suddenly filled with gratefulness.

"Thanks" I said receiving a questioning look from Austin.

"For what?"

"Everything. If it hadn't been for you I hadn't been able to get to the cabin, or make it back alive for that matter…and Jack would still be stuck there…"

"I didn't really do that much." He shrugged. "You're the heroine…"

"That's not true. You helped a lot."

"Maybe…" He chuckled a little, shaking his head as if he came to think of something.

"What?" I asked.

"When I left home to visit my aunt and her family, I could never dream of anything like this happening…" He smiled at me. "It was a pretty big adventure though. An adventure that I'll never forget." I returned his smile as we walked back to join the rest of the gang.

The first thing I noticed when I got back was that Jack's parents were missing. Rudy obviously noticed my confusion.

"They're with Jack." He explained. "The doctor said that they could go visit."

"What?!" I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed in them. "Why didn't you guys tell me we could go see him?"

"Because we can't." He answered. "Jack's not feeling well enough to meet us all. The doctor said that it would probably be too stressful for him."

"Oh…" I muttered letting my gaze fall, before slumping down in the chair again. "Did the doctor say anything about his condition?"

"Yes. They had to reopen several small wounds on his right arm and remove two shot that were apparently the same ammunition that they found in you." Rudy said as I automatically traced the wound on my side with my fingers, suddenly very aware of it. "They also had to stitch a pretty large gash on his elbow. And he has two fractured ribs and he has suffered a minor concussion. He'll be fine though. None of the injuries are permanent and the risks of something going wrong throughout the healing process are almost equal to none. He will make a full recovery…" I felt relieved hearing that. "Apparently he was also dehydrated…" I just nodded, letting it all sink in.

"Look Kim, the doctor said that we might not be able to see him at all today. And I've gotta run some errands and the guys has some things to do…" He continued. "We'll be coming back in a few hours…"

I just nodded, not really listening, frustrated over the fact that I couldn't go see Jack. Refusing to look up, I heard Rudy along with the rest of the warriors leaving.

I don't know how long I sat in silence before I felt a hand on top of my own.

"You look tired, sweetie." My mum said. "Maybe we should take a break too. We could go eat somewhere…" I looked at her as if she was nuts. "I promise I'll drive you back here afterwards." She quickly added.

"I'm not hungry." I muttered. As on cue my stomach had to betray me and growl. Mum raised an eyebrow at me in an 'I told you so' kind of way. "I'm not leaving. At least not until I know for sure that I can't go and see him."

"Okay honey, if that's what you want." Mum mumbled, returning to her magazine.

The minutes were dragging by painfully slow and I was on the verge of falling asleep when I heard my name being called. Startled I focused my eyes on Mr Brewer that had returned. His eyes were red and I could tell he'd been crying, which caused an unsettling knot in my stomach to form.

"He wants to see you, Kim." He said, giving me a weak smile. Wasting no time, I sprinted from my chair and followed Mr Brewer to the room Jack had been placed in.

"He's pretty drowsy…but otherwise he seems okay…" He explained right before opening the door. I gave him a nod, letting him lead me to the light blue curtains that surrounded Jack's bed.

Jack was lying perfectly still, looking as if he was sleeping. His mum was sitting by his left side holding his hand. She greeted us with a smile, revealing her tear streaked face. I smiled back before walking up on Jack's right side, the opposite from her, to have a closer look at him. Noticing my presence Jack opened his eyes.

"Kim…?" He breathed. I didn't feel completely comfortable with his parents around. It felt like I'd interrupted something, like a rude intruder stomping into their family reunion. I was also afraid that I would accidentally do something that would make them figure out my feelings for him. The feelings that I'd worked so hard to hide from everybody during such a long time.

If I'd been alone with him, I would probably have climbed up in the bed and lay down next to him, holding him close. I would have wiped the tear that just left his eye away and I would have told him that I loved him and I would always be there for him...

That's what I wanted to do, but I couldn't do that with other people around, especially his parents. Instead I took his hand, answering him.

"I'm here, Jack." As if that was what he needed to hear, he sighed deeply and closed his eyes again, falling into a slumber. If it hadn't been for the machines he was connected to that kept on beeping rhythmically, telling us everything was in order, I would have been worried that he'd died. That's how still he was.

We were standing by his side in silence for quite some time, waiting for him to wake up again. Unfortunately a nurse came and motioned for us that the visiting time was over before he did.

Mrs Brewer stood up and gave Jack a kiss on his forehead, before getting ready to leave. I wished that I could do the same, but I would never dare to. Not with them still in the room. Instead I gave his hand a gentle squeeze, taking one last look at his bruised but still beautiful face before I reluctantly let go and left the room.

* * *

I had to force my feet from not running as we made it down the corridor, occasionally passing a nurse who we greeted with a nod. The day had seemed unusually long and the school had been a real pain. Not being able to think about anything else than this moment I had constantly looked at the clock, counting the minutes. At one point it seemed as if the school day would never end. But of course it eventually had and the time had finally come to pick up Jack from the hospital.

It was Thursday. Three days had passed since we had found Jack in the cabin and of course I'd been visiting him every single day, spending as much time as possible with him. He hadn't been quite himself though as they'd kept him on pretty heavy drugs to keep the pain and the angst to a minimum. Most of the time I had been watching him sleep and when he occasionally did wake up he'd mostly slurred or been too tired to keep a conversation going. But I had talked to him none the less, believing that it would help him. That it would make him feel safe.

I hadn't been the only one visiting him. The rest of the warriors and Jack's parents had been spending a lot of time there too, which hopefully had resulted in Jack not feeling too lonely.

Jack's parents had asked me if I wanted to come with them to pick him up, since they believed that Jack would appreciate having me around. I had of course been more than willing to come. So here I was, closely following Mr and Mrs Brewer down the hallway, towards the room Jack had been placed in. Turning the last corner Mr Brewer stopped abruptly, causing me to bump into him. I peeked around him, noticing a teenage boy sitting in a chair. He was looking down at his hands, his wavy brown hair falling forward and covering his eyes from us. On the floor next to him lay his black duffel bag, with all his belongings he'd used during his stay here. He was wearing a long sleeved sweeter that he'd made sure was covering his whole arm all the way down to his hands, hiding whatever was left of his scars and bruises.

Noticing our presence he looked up, revealing his pale face with green yellow bruises across his left cheekbone and his still slightly swollen lip. His mouth formed into what looked like a smile. At least that's what I think it was. It was forced though and it didn't reach his eyes.

"Jack, sweetheart…" Mrs Brewer said, breaking the silence. She approached her son who stood up and with a fluid motion she wrapt her arms around him. He instantly answered by hugging back. "You ready to go home?" She asked, pulling away.

"Yeah…" He said and picked up his bag.

"Well, let's go then…" Mr Brewer said, probably wanting to get out of the hospital as quick as possible. I didn't blame him. The feeling in the room was really awkward and the sooner this moment was over the better.

Jack's eyes landed on me as he was about to start walking.

"Hi Jack." I smiled expecting him to be happy to see me and hopefully give me a hug. Much to my disappointment he didn't say or do anything though. "Your parents let me come…" I trailed of, a bit uncomfortable about him staring at me. Not that I minded him looking at me, it was the fact that his expression was totally unreadable to me, that I didn't like. His face was just…blank.

"You coming?" Jack's dad asked, noticing us lingering. I quickly turned around and started walking. In the corner of my eye I could see Jack walking next to me, never taking his eyes off of me.

Jack kept on acting really weird the whole ride back home. The tension was even worse in the car then it'd been back at the hospital. Jack's parents tried to get him to say something by occasionally giving him a question. He didn't answer them with more then a quiet 'yes' or 'no', keeping his gaze on the buildings passing outside the window. I glanced over at him. His face was motionless and his eyes looked like black empty holes. This Jack scared me and to be honest I was pretty disappointed and frustrated by his attitude. I leaned forward so that the man behind the wheel would hear me better.

"You can just drop me off by the post office. I'll walk from there." I said. I didn't live that far from it and they wouldn't have to take a detour to drive me home, which suited me perfectly. Earlier today I had pictured this moment to be wonderful and I'd planned to spend my afternoon at his place. But right now I felt like a burden to him as if he didn't want me there. And the least I could do was to get rid of that burden for him…

"Can't you stay?" The question caught me off guard and it took me a moment to realize that it was Jack who'd spoken. Mr and Mrs Brewer seemed just as surprised and none of us was able to answer him. He looked at me worriedly. "Do you have anything else you have to do?" I stared at him. This was the longest sentence he'd said the entire day.

"No" I answered.

"Mum, dad…? You guys wouldn't mind Kim coming with us, right?"

"Of course not, honey." Mrs Brewer said, smiling at the fact that her son was talking again.

"If it's ok with Kim."

Jack turned to me, looking at me hopefully. Too lost in my own thoughts I was unable to provide them with an answer right away. Jack _did_ want me to stay.

"Please…" He mouthed, bringing me back.

"I would love to come with you." I smiled, watching Jack's worried expression disappear. He still didn't smile though; instead he sighed and leaned back against his seat.

Once at their house the heavy silence was back. I've been here countless of times and I knew this family almost as good as my own, but I couldn't help but feel like a stranger intruding.

Jack had excused himself almost immediately after we'd entered the front door and hurried off to the bathroom on the second floor. Mr Brewer had gone outside again, to do whatever he was doing out in the garage, leaving me and Mrs Brewer alone in the kitchen. I helped her preparing dinner, boiling up water for the potatoes. She threw a glance at the clock on the wall.

"He's sure been gone for a while now…"

"I'll go check on him." I said, quickly seeing my chance of being able to talk to him alone. Not waiting for an answer, I hurried upstairs.

The bathroom door was slightly open and I started to get a little worried.

"Jack?" There was no answer, so I reach for the door. I hesitated. I didn't want to walk in on him if he was using the toilet. That would be really embarrassing. Nor did I want to find him lying lifelessly on the floor. I knew the chances were slim but I still feared it. "Jack?" Still no answer.

Ok here goes… I pushed the door opened, just to find the room…empty? Panicking slightly I looked around the bathroom as if I would find him hiding behind the toilet bowl or something.

Walking back outside I quickly gathered myself. There was no need to stress out. He must be here somewhere.

The first and most logical place that popped up in my head was his bedroom. I practically ran to it and was about to open the door, when the sign with the text _'knock or else…'_ written on it caught my eye. Normally I would just ignore it, but I felt that now, more than ever I needed to respect his privacy. I knocked cautiously on the wooden door, waiting for permission to enter.

"Jack?" When I didn't receive an answer I knocked a little harder. "Jack, are you there?" Losing my patience I opened the door and peeked inside. To my relief I spotted him standing by a full size mirror that was placed on his closet. I frowned, taking in the sight. He had taken off the long sleeved sweater, leaving him in a T-shirt that revealed most of his bandaged arms. With one hand he was holding the front of his shirt up, exposing his tummy and most of his chest, while lightly tracing his fingertips over the cuts and bruises that were covering him. Even though I had expected him to have injuries like that I hadn't really seen them before and the sight kind of shocked me. He didn't seem to notice me or he just ignored me, too caught up with examining himself. I hesitantly approached him.

"Jack?" He let his hand fall down by his side, while still holding up the shirt with his other, keeping his eyes fixed on his reflection. I took the hand in both of mine, giving it a comforting squeeze. "Jack, are you ok?" My touch seemed to bring him out of his trance and he turned his head towards me. He seemed to think about his answer for a moment, letting his shirt down again. Not knowing what to say he shrugged barely noticeable, averting his gaze to the floor.

I studied him in silence, trying to read what was going on inside of him. The traces from all the abuse he'd been suffering, still very visible across his face, made my heart sting a little. Even if he tried not to show anything, keeping his face as blank as possible he still looked so broken.

"Is there anything you need?" I asked, hoping that he would give me a clue to what to do to help him. "Is there anything I can do?" He looked at me again. His deep brown orbs told me everything. He needed comfort. Feeling as if it was the only right thing to do, I gently pulled him in for a hug. He instantly wrapt his arms around me and pressed me against his warm body. Enjoying the closeness I closed my eyes and tightened my hold of him. I don't know how long we stayed like that nor did I care. All I knew was that I wouldn't be the one to let go first. I would be holding on to him and be there for him, giving him as much as he needed. I would wait until he would be ready…

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**That was it. Fluff, fluff, fluff... haha I hope it was worth the wait anyway...**

**Next chapter will be the last one of this story... can't believe it's ending. I promise it will be up very soon. **

**A lot of you have wondered what the sequel to this story will be called. It will be called 'Memories and Lies' and the first chapter will be up shortly after the final chapter of this story. **

**See y'all on the next chappie:) and please review.**

**/MJ**


	31. Right where I Belong

**AN/ Hi, I'm really sorry for the delay...again... But here it is the last chapter of Truth and Denial. It's really strange that it's over...**

**I take it that you find the story even though I changed the cover/image for it...haha took me long enough to get that up...but better late than never... **

**I wanna thank you all so much for all your reviews and support.**

**This is the ending I had planned and I hope y'all gonna like it.**

**DICLAIMER: I do NOT own Kickin' it.**

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Chapter 31

**Right Where I Belong**

**Jack's pov.**

Numbness, I think that's the best way to describe my time at the hospital. Memories from my stay here were foggy as if they were parts of a dream I'd just woken up from. The days had passed quickly and in a blink of an eye they were gone, but still it felt as if I'd been here for an eternity.

I couldn't recall any happy moments at all, only miserable ones.

There'd been times when I'd woken up in the middle of the night, screaming in fear of the green eyes that haunted my dreams. Other times I'd felt so terribly lonely, I'd cried myself to sleep. The doctors had tried to help me, giving me stuff to keep me from drowning in my anguish. But by doing so they'd also blocked out all the other more positive emotions like happiness and enjoyment too. This had left me feeling like an empty shell, too tired to even talk with my friends and family that had been visiting me frequently.

In just a few moments my stay here would finally come to an end though and I would be able to go home. I hoped that the heavy weight on my chest would vanish and the horrible memories would start to fade as soon as I set my foot outside the hospital walls.

I felt a lot better physically, having been able to get the food and rest that I'd needed and my injuries had been taken care of. I almost didn't feel any pain at all, as long as I kept still, that is. Now it was time for me to take care of all the emotional pain and letting my heart heal at home with the people I love.

My thoughts went to a certain blond girl without whose courage, I wouldn't be sitting here today. I longed to be with her again. She had been at the hospital everyday to visit me, but I hadn't been me, therefore I felt like I hadn't really seen her.

I was worried that things would be different now though, that she wouldn't think of me the same way she did before. In the forest I had cried like a little baby, clinging to her for all I was worth, scared of everything else around me. I think I'd made it pretty clear to her that she was my lifeline by my behaviour and I could hardly deny my desire to be with her anymore. I kept worrying though, that our relationship wouldn't be like it used to. What if she thought that my actions had been pathetic and silly? What if she'd leave me? I don't think I'll ever get back to normal if she did.

Trying to get rid of the negative thoughts, I shook my head and went back to fiddling around with my hands nervously as I waited for my parents to arrive. Deep down I knew that they loved me and that they longed for me to be back home again, but a part of me still worried that they wouldn't come. What if they had forgotten that it was today they were supposed to pick me up?

No they couldn't possibly do that…could they?

I had refused to take any other medication than the antibiotics for my physical injuries today, not wanting the numbness to take over my brain. I wanted to be able to feel. Even if that meant pain, I couldn't afford to miss the opportunity to feel happiness and love. Two feelings I prayed to God that I would experience soon; because I honestly didn't know how much longer I would be able to survive without them.

I threw a glance at the clock on the wall. What was taking them so long? The lack of drugs in my system caused me to feel anxious about everything and I struggled to stay in the chair, fighting the urge to just run away. Occasionally I would hear footsteps approaching the spot where I was sitting and every time I tensed, hoping that it would be my family, still dreading that it would be a tall shaggy looking man with piercing green eyes. Oh yes, I still feared that Mark would come back, looking for me, even though I knew he was locked up in a mental care somewhere.

A shiver went down my spine at the thought of him and I quickly tried to focus on something else, before all the things that he did would start playing inside my head. It was hard to ignore everything that had happened though, especially with being stuck in my own body. A body that was a living evidence and a constant reminder of what he'd done to me.

Feeling as if I was being watched I looked up, meeting my parents eyes. The sight of them made me almost smile.

"Jack sweetheart…" Mom said coming towards me. I quickly stood up, not wanting to stay one minute longer than necessary at this place. She embraced me in a hug. I hugged back, taking in the feeling of her love to me, realizing just how much I'd missed her. She pulled away all too soon though, looking me in the eyes and cupping my face with her hands.

"You ready to go home?"

"Yeah…" I said, my voice coming out weaker than I'd expected. There was no question of how badly I wanted to go home though. To hurry things up I quickly grabbed my bag at the same time dad mumbled;

"Well, let's go then…" He's never been good to show emotions and I could sense that he was uncomfortable and wanted to leave quickly. I was actually glad he did. If he'd come up hugging me and made this moment any longer, I would've probably not been able to hold it together.

Just when I was about to start walking, I noticed a very familiar girl, smiling shyly at me. I hadn't expected her to come and I didn't know what to do. A sudden urge to just run up and throw myself in her arms, letting everything out filled me and I had to fight hard not to lose control. So hard that I didn't dare to move.

"Hi, Jack." Kim's sweet voice was wonderful to hear and I found myself staring at her. "Your parents let me come…" I didn't really listen to her. I just tried to comprehend that fact that she was standing there. There'd been a time when I thought that that would never be possible. A time when I thought she would be gone forever. I inhaled deeply, desperately trying to compose myself.

"You coming?" I heard my dad's voice. Kim jerked, slightly startled and hurried off towards my parents, who were heading for the exit. Relieved that he'd spoken and pulled me back from my thoughts I followed behind, never taking my eyes off the blond beauty.

The memories from my time in captivity started to run through my brain and continued to flow as we sat in the car on our way home. I tried to block them out by thinking of something else, but it was hard. Why couldn't I forget about it? Why couldn't I be happy? Everything that I wished for had come true. Kim was alive, I was free and Mark was locked up, unable to bother us anymore. The nightmare was over, but still it haunted me.

"You can just drop me off by the post office. I'll walk from there." Kim said. No, no, no… A sudden pressure in my chest appeared, making it hard to breathe. I had assumed that she was going to come with us. I needed to talk to her.

"Can't you stay?" I asked, praying that she could. She looked a little surprised at me. "Do you have anything else you have to do?"

"No" She shook her head. The heavy feeling in my chest started to subdue by her answer and I turned towards my parents, sitting in front of us.

"Mum, dad…? You guys wouldn't mind Kim coming with us, right?"

"Of course not, honey." Mum said, she looked at me through the rear-view mirror. "If it's ok with Kim."

I shot Kim a glance. She seemed to be thinking about it.

"Please…" I mouthed, hoping that she wouldn't leave. Her face softened into a smile.

"I would love to come with you."

I sighed, finally being able to breathe properly again as I let myself fall back against my seat. Thank God, she'll come with us...

* * *

It was really weird stepping into our house after everything. I'd hoped that the empty and hopeless feeling I'd grown so accustomed to in the past days would disappear as soon as I got home. Much to my disappointment though, it still lingered inside of me.

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom…" I mumbled loud enough for mum and Kim to hear, before hurrying upstairs. It probably seemed kind of rude to just run off like that, especially since I didn't really needed to go that badly, at least not for that reason. I just felt that keeping myself busy by doing something would keep my mind from wandering back to that cabin… And by doing stuff that was part of the daily routines, the quicker my life would get back to normal…right? At least that's how I felt, at that moment.

Careful not to look into the mirror, I washed my hands, doing everything that I could to ignore the red scars around my wrists. The visit to the bathroom hadn't lasted as long as I'd wanted and I soon found myself once again with nothing to do. I could always go back down, but I was kind of worried that they would start to ask me uncomfortable questions about how I felt…

Looking around the hallway, my eyes fell upon a small bag of mint pastilles my dad had left carelessly laying around on the small table outside their bedroom.

"_You want one?"_ A deep voice echoed, causing me to stop in my tracks. I shook my head, backing off. _"Suit yourself…"_ Quickly averting my gaze, desperately trying to focus on something else I bolted to the one place I'd always felt safe; my own room.

Stopping right in front of it, I hesitantly opened the door, bracing myself as if I'd expected the room to be burnt down to the ground or something.

I let my eyes scan the place just to find out that everything looked just the same as I'd left it that Sunday morning a couple of weeks ago. It was as if nothing had changed…yet everything was different. I was different.

Noticing my guitar, standing next to my desk, I considered playing on it. Maybe it would help, even though I didn't really feel like doing it. In search for something else that I maybe could do instead, I locked eyes with a forlorn looking teen and I instantly regretted that I hadn't grabbed the guitar at once when I had entered the room. Then maybe I hadn't had to face the guy staring at me through the mirror.

It was too late to ignore him now though.

Slowly I approached my reflection. I had done everything within my power to avoid looking at myself ever since I got rescued, so I hadn't really seen what I looked like. The image shocked me a little. It wasn't the bruises or the cut in my lip or the one up in my hair line that caught my attention though. I had kind of expected them to look something like that anyway… no, it was the empty face with eyes holding nothing but pain and sadness and the slouched shoulders, creating a silhouette that was the exact opposite to the proud and confident boy I was used to seeing that was really disturbing.

The boy who was looking back at me had been hurt in so many ways. I'd been hurt in so many ways. The truth hit me hard. How could I let this happen?

I was a second degree black belt for crying out loud. I should've been able to defend myself. I should've been able to stop this from ever happening.

Pretty sure I'd seen the worst part, I pulled off the sweater I was wearing and threw it on a chair next to me. I might as well see the rest of the damages done to me. Besides I was a little curious.

My arms were mostly covered with bandages, which didn't leave me much to look at. Grabbing the hem of my T-shirt, I anxiously pulled it up. I scolded myself instantly. Now why did I have to do that?

Standing frozen as if seeing a ghost, I couldn't bring myself to pull my shirt back down. Instead I let my other hand travel along the scrapes and bruises covering me. I flinched at my own touch as I accidentally put a bit too much pressure on a pretty large bruise I had on my right side, just below my chest. It was from the kick Alan had given me right after Tess had caused me to fall off the chair and accidentally break a few plates by tickling me.

Letting my hand fall slightly it came across several scrapes covering my abs. You could tell that they must've been bleeding quite a bit when they were new. A sickening feeling filled me, remembering very vivid the fear and the pain when my skin had merciless been ripped opened, as I'd been dragged across the forest floor by the car.

Quickly I moved my hand to one of the smaller bruises on my chest. I had received it on my first night at the cabin when Kim just had…I took a deep breath. When I thought Kim was gone. Alan had lost his patience with me, when I'd tried to move away from him, not wanting him to put the handcuffs back on me. He had beaten me senseless until I felt so much pain and fear that I hadn't even dared to think about fighting back.

The horrid memories kept coming as every mark on my body had its own story to tell and of course they brought me nothing but more pain. Still, I was unable to move away from the mirror, too caught up with staring at myself. I didn't even notice Kim entering the room, even though I could've clearly spotted her reflection through the mirror.

"Jack?" Her sweet voice was what finally broke through the stream of terrible images and feelings running through me. The hand I'd been tracing my torso with fell to my side and I could almost instantly feel Kim's touch as she took it in both of hers. "Jack, are you ok?" I turned my head and looked at her, letting my shirt down. I thought about her question for a moment. Was I ok? Everything was as it should be. I was home and I had started to heal. I should be ok. So why didn't I feel like it? What was I supposed to do to feel normal again?

The hopelessness I felt inside made my eyes water, which caused me to feel really silly and I quickly looked down at the floor, giving Kim a small shrug as a truthful answer to her question. She stood silent for a moment, studying me as I pushed my emotions back and collected myself.

"Is there anything you need?" She wondered. I didn't answer her, although there were a lot of things that I needed. Most desperately I needed to heal and to forget. "Is there anything I can do for you?" She tried again. I looked up at her. Actually there were things that she could do. Holding me and kissing me would probably do the trick… To tell you the truth I had been secretly longing to cuddle up in her embrace once again, remembering how much safety and comfort it had provided me with. But I didn't dare to ask her to hold me. To just have her standing by my side and holding my hand like she currently was doing, also helped and I couldn't risk her leaving by asking for more, so I remained silent. Thankfully I didn't need to speak because Kim seemed to know exactly how I felt, almost as if she could see right through my soul and she opened her arms for me. I gladly entered, wrapping my own arms around her.

I hadn't been this close to her since back at the cabin and the absence of her hadn't exactly been good to me... Closing my eyes I let myself soak in the peace she brought to my heart, while pressing her closer to me.

It's strange… Back at the hospital I had locked up my feelings, trying to stay strong. They had offered me meetings with a psychologist to vent what had happened, but I had refused to talk to them. I didn't want to tell anybody. I didn't want them to know. The main reason; I felt ashamed. If I'd told them, shown them how broken I was, they would've labelled me weak. Both mentally and physically.

So every time someone had asked me how I felt I had answered with a simple 'fine', hoping that they wouldn't bother to dig any deeper. I wasn't ready to tell anyone.

But with Kim it was different. I felt as if I could tell her everything, not caring if I'd break down and cry in front of her. There was no need to hide anything. She'd already seen me at the lowest point of distress and she hadn't judged me. She hadn't left me.

It felt like the most natural thing in the world to let go of everything and let her take care of me. I trusted her.

"If you wanna talk about it, I'm here." Kim spoke softly into my shoulder. I just nodded, before snuggling my face into her hair. We stood there for a while, holding on to each other. Kim's comment had caused the memories to come back. Strangely enough they didn't bring me as much pain as before, not when I was in the caring arms of my love, feeling all warm and safe. It was as if Kim worked as a shield, my own personal protection from the darkness my soul had been falling into.

Feeling brighter I finally pulled away, just so that I would be able to look at my angel. We didn't fully let go though, still resting our hands on each other, as if we were afraid that the other would disappear if we did. If someone would have seen us in that moment they would have thought we were lovers, judging by our position and the way we fondly looked into each others eyes. I knew that we would probably never be more than friends though and I treasured our friendship greatly, but I still wished that we could go beyond that.

I could tell Kim was worried about me, by the look in her eyes and that she wanted to know what was on my mind. I debated with myself whether I should take her offer and talk about everything that was keeping me down. Maybe it would do me good. I inhaled deeply.

"Kim, when I was…" I started as flashes of the basement and the cabin passed through my mind. "Back at the cabin Mark…" I trailed off again, looking away in search for something to focus on so that I could continue talking without breaking down. Kim rubbed my back, supporting me to go on. "Mark said that I would stay with him for the rest of my life and…" I swallowed, fixing my eyes on the lamp standing on my bedside table. The lump in my throat was growing and I desperately tried to stop it. "…he said he would never let me go home again." I said quietly and untangled myself from Kim's arms, feeling the need to move. Directing my gaze to the floor I started pacing back and forth, as if I could walk away from my emotions.

"Later he or Alan actually…" I corrected myself, not noticing the confused look on Kim's face. "…told me that he probably did everyone a favour when he took me away from you all. He said you were all better off without me and that nobody wanted for me to come back. That's why nobody came looking for me and…" It was getting harder to see the floor in front of my feet as tears had started to dim my vision. Kim was standing silently, listening to what I had to say. "…he told me that you were dead…" I said, looking up at her. Man, this was hard... "…He said he'd shown you mercy and killed you, so you would be set free from me…and I… I believed him." My voice cracked and it became impossible to hold back the tears any longer. I plumped down on my bed, covering my face with my hands while resting my elbows on my knees. Kim didn't say anything, as if she knew I needed a moment.

Taking deep breaths I merely managed to get my emotions back under control. I wiped the tears away, believing that I would be strong enough to continue. But when I opened my mouth to speak the urge to cry came back and I had to stop and start all over again. I tried once more to say what was on my mind, which only resulted with tears once again flooding my eyes. The lump in my throat that I'd fought so hard was so big it hurt and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep it together much longer.

I didn't know why I was on the verge of crying like this. Feeling silly and a bit embarrassed actually, I wanted to give Kim an explanation to my pathetic behaviour and in a last brave attempt to get something out I whimpered;

"He hurt me so bad…" The words had barely left my mouth before I let go, hiding my face in my hands again I started crying. Everything was so hard for me to handle. I still can't believe I let it all happen.

Through my soft sobs filling the room, I could hear Kim approaching. She kneeled down on the floor in front of me and placed her hands on either side of my head. I refused to look up at her, not wanting to reveal my puffy eyes. She gently started to comb her fingers through my hair with an even and soothing rhythm.

"Jack…we all missed you terribly." She said softly. "And of course we wanted you to come back to us. We were all trying to find you…" She moved her hands so that one was on my shoulder blade and the other at the back of my head, before pushing me slightly forward. I could feel her shoulder against the back of my hands that were still covering my face and I quickly moved my hands to around her neat body, hiding my face in the crook of her neck. Again I was amazed over how much safer and calmer I felt as soon as I came this close to her.

"You could never be a burden to us. In fact we need you. I need you. Without you I'm miserable."

"Really?"

"Yes… I just wished we'd gotten to you sooner..." She whispered, stoking my back. My tears came to an end pretty quickly, but I didn't want to let go of her just yet and I felt myself slightly panic when Kim suddenly pulled away and sank down to the floor, her bottom touching her heals. Reminding myself that she wasn't going anywhere I fought the urge to cling to her. She took my hands that were resting on my lap, in hers. Giving them a gentle squeeze, she searched my eyes, looking up at me.

"Jack…" She started. Receiving all this attention from her caused a bunch of butterflies to flutter to life inside of me and I could feel a blush spreading across my cheeks. "If you ever…" She hesitated, looking away as if to decide what to say. I gave her hands an encouraging squeeze to show her that I was listening and that I wanted to know what she had to say. She turned her mesmerizing eyes back at me. "I want you to know that no matter what happens, I'll always be there for you." She said sincerely, looking into my eyes. Her heart-warming words touched me and my eyes began to water. The bravest, loveliest and most wonderful girl in the world would do that for me?

I could tell she was speaking the truth and the feeling it provided me with was the closest to happiness I'd come in weeks.

Carefully I untangled my hand from hers and brought it to her face, cupping her cheek. Finally bold enough to touch her like that. To my relief, she didn't pull back and I gently started to stroke her cheek with my thumb. She just sat there, looking up at me while I slid my hand down her cheek, tracing her jaw line tenderly with my fingers. Moving down her throat as if trying to memorize her features by feel, my hand eventually came to rest on her chest, the tip of my thumb lightly brushing her collarbone, while letting my gaze travel across her face, taking in every detail of it. Like how that cute little tip of her nose made the centre just below a pair of big and sparkling eyes, all filled with warmth. Or how her cheeks rise, making her eyes seem smaller every time she'd smile, and how perfectly shaped her lips were. Those lips that I wished I could taste... She was beyond beautiful.

A lock from her long hair tickled the back of my hand where it rested on her chest. I took it and let my fingers entwine with it. It's hard finding words to describe how I felt for her. She meant more than anything to me and to think that I almost lost her… How could I ever be so stupid to jeopardize her life like that?

"I'm so sorry." I said softly. She wrinkled her eyebrows in confusion.

"For what?"

"For bringing you into all of this." I said, still playing with her hair. "If it hadn't been for me, he wouldn't have tried to hurt you. He only got after you because he knew I lo…" I went silent. Realizing how close I'd been to reveal my feelings for her, I looked down, trying to hide the blush that painted my cheeks. Even though I wished I could, I wasn't ready to tell her. I could probably not take a rejection, at least not at the moment, being so emotionally fragile. As long as she hadn't told me if she felt the same or not I could always hope. And I much rather live on that hope than knowing that it could never be us. "… because he knew I care about you." I said, trying to cover up my 'almost-mistake'. Kim's mouth formed into a crooked smile, a somewhat amused expression on her face.

"You're apologizing for caring about me?" She raised her eyebrows. I couldn't really find a good answer to that and I just sat there with a dumbfounded expression on my face. Somehow she had managed to twist my words around and when she said it like that it sounded pretty stupid. "It's not your fault what happened, Jack."

"Yes it is. I accidentally mentioned your name and…"

"Jack" She cut me off and rose from the floor, just to take a seat next to me, the bed shifting underneath me as she did. Her hand cradled my face again, gently urging me to look at her, which I did, our closeness causing my tummy to do small flips. "I don't blame you. And I still don't think it's your fault, in fact I know it's not you fault." She reassured. "But if it makes you feel any better; I forgive you for any mistake." I nodded slightly, looking down. A huge rock had just been lifted from my heart. Kim put her arm around my shoulder and I leaned sideways into her warmth and care.

"But you should know that you letting Mark know about me wasn't the reason why I was in his house. He didn't trick me or anything. I got there all by myself. I wanted to solve the mystery of Tess's death…" She went quiet for a moment, shaking her head. "I was stupid, trying to find you myself… If I just had gone to the police in the first place I could have spared you so much suffering." Her voice wavered, sounding as if she was about to cry. Pressing her cheek against my forehead, she wrapt her arms around me and squeezed me tightly. My battered body ached but my heart rejoiced by her touch. "I can't believe I let this happen to you. If anything I should be the one to apologize". I shook my head.

"You saved me." I whispered, placing my hand on her waist in an attempt to hold on to her. She flinched as if my touch had hurt her. Instantly removing my hand I pulled away slightly to look at her. I was hit by the memory of that terrible evening in Mark's basement. Kim had been bleeding when she'd run off. It must have slipped my mind somewhere in all the mess and I scolded myself for not remembering.

"Are you okay?" I asked, concern filling my voice.

"Yeah I'm fine."

"No you're not." I shook my head, suddenly forgetting my own pain.

"I'm perfectly fine." She smiled. "Don't worry."

"No," I protested. "You were hurt in the basement."

"Jack, it's really nothing..." Her answer didn't calm me much, because I knew that she would've said that even if she wasn't okay, not wanting to worrying me. So I figured I had to somehow make sure.

"Would you mind…?" I nodded towards her waist. She sighed obviously annoyed with me not letting it go. But none the less she pulled her shirt up. Her left side was covered with a white patch taped to her skin. I reached out and touched it with my fingertips.

"The doctor said that I'll be fine. They removed all the ammunition and stitched me up…It hurts when I move a little, that's all." She said. "It's nothing compared to what you've gone through..." She let her shirt down again, looking down at her hands as I trailed off in thoughts.

She'd almost died because of me and I was angry with myself for ever allowing that to happen, but there was a question that had popped up in my head as we'd been sitting there that I wanted to know the answer to, so I pushed my feelings aside.

"Kim?" She looked up at me with her beautiful eyes and I had to remind myself of what I was going to ask her, doing everything that I could not to get lost in them. "When you were at Mark's place…he tried to…kill you." I said. She gave me a small nod and I wondered how deep that experience had marked her. I'd taken it really bad and I can only imagine what she must've gone through. "You barely managed to escape and…you must've known that he would try to kill you again if he ever got the chance." I made a short pause, waiting for a response from her.

"Yes I did know that." She stated simply with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Weren't you afraid?"  
"Terrified" She said truthfully.

"Then why did you come back?" She gave me a smile and took my hand. I could faintly see her cheeks turning into a shade of red, which made her look even prettier, before she looked down at our entwined hands. I was a little confused as she seemed almost embarrassed. That's something that I'd never thought she would have to feel around me. But the fact that she did now only got me more curious.

"Isn't that obvious?" She gave me a quick glance, raising her eyebrows. I could tell that she hoped that I would catch on to what she meant, so that she wouldn't have to tell me. Problem was that I couldn't figure it out. I shook my head slightly, trying to think of a reason without any luck. I mean she had practically run into her potential death. Why would she do that? Unless she was suicidal, which I highly doubted...

I pretty quickly gave up trying to find an answer on my own and instead waited for her to tell me. After a moment of silence I realized that she probably wasn't going to say anything though. Was it really that hard for her to let me know? It hurt a bit actually. Didn't she trust me?

"Kim" I said. "You've just gone searching for the most dangerous man I know. The only man I'm seriously afraid of, risking your life for me. You're the bravest person I know and yet you're afraid to tell me why you did it." My words seemed to have gotten through to her and her eyes started moving back and fort as if she debated whether she should tell me or not. I patiently waited, never taking my eyes off of her. "You can tell me." I whispered encouraging, squeezing her hand.

I don't know why the answer hadn't crossed my mind, but I don't think I'd dared to even allow myself to dream about it. Maybe that's why what happened next surprised me so.

Kim took a deep breath and looked up at me. It hit me how close our faces were when she did, but I didn't move away, afraid that she might change her mind about telling me, which I knew she was about to by the look on her face. Besides, I really enjoyed being so close to her.

"I did it because of love." She said quietly and before I was able to comprehend what she'd just said let alone do anything, she leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on my cheek, causing my heart to beat twice as fast. "I love you, Jack."

Blushing fiercely, she quickly averted her gaze to the floor. I blinked, too stunned to do anything, still feeling her lips against my cheek. At first I thought that I was dreaming. I felt all fuzzy inside as I processed what had just happened. Kim, the queen of my heart had just said she loved me…and she'd _kissed_ me.

All of a sudden she let go of my hand and I quickly snapped back to reality.

"I…I gotta go." She said nervously and stood up, looking anywhere but me. "I promised your mum I'd help her with…" She was just about to walk away when I reached out and caught her wrist, ignoring the pain that shot through my arm as I did.

"Kim wait." I tugged on her, causing her to sit back down again, her thigh pressed up against mine and our shoulders touching. I leaned a little closer to her so that my face was only inches away from hers. She was focusing on the floor, not daring to look at me. I wanted her to see me in the eyes though, so that she would know that I'd be speaking the truth when I tell her I love her too. Gently I caressed her cheek and turned her head towards me, still cupping her face.

When we locked eyes, I lost my ability to speak though and I soon found myself leaning in. Hesitating slightly I stopped myself for a split second only to notice that Kim was leaning in too. Feeling more confident again I finally let myself do what my heart had desired for so long. I tilted my head to the side and boldly closed the gap between us. As soon as my lips touched hers everything else seemed to disappear. I couldn't feel any pain any longer and all the bad memories stopped haunting me. Instead I was filled with a pleasant tingling feeling, reaching all the way down to my toes. Closing my eyes I slid my hand from her cheek to the back of her neck, pressing her closer. All I could think about was Kim and how wonderful it felt to kiss and to be kissed back by her.

We parted slowly and for the first time for what seemed to be an eternity I smiled. I smiled fully, with my heart and soul, feeling genuinely happy.

"I love you too." I said, only to be awestruck by the beauty of the happy Kim before my eyes. We looked at each other for a moment, slowly leaning in again until our foreheads met. My gaze fell to her mouth. The taste and feel of it still lingered on my lips and I found myself wanting more. My smile disappeared and my breathing started to get heavier. I noticed that Kim seemed to have the same thoughts as I, feeling her hand sliding up the side of my head and making its way to the back of it. The touch of her fingers gently brushing the skin on the back of my neck sent pleasant shivers down my spine and I couldn't take the suspense any longer. With a swift movement I sneaked my arms around her and dove in for another kiss. She answered by clutching my hair, pressing me as close to her as possible. Wanting even more I stuck my tongue out, licking her bottom lip. I'd barely got the chance to touch it with the tip of my tongue before she opened her mouth, giving me free access to it. The tast of her mouth made my head spin and for a moment I thought that I would never be able to stop. Moving my hands all over her back, I took in the feel of her body only to find it even more irresistible. My movements caused Kim to turn her whole body towards me and climb up in my lap. Our heads moved back and forth in sync as our tongues danced together. Her weight along with the wonderful feeling that I had inside of me, knowing that it was ok to let go caused me to fall backwards onto the bed. Kim was pulled along and landed on top of me, making me to involuntary let out a deep moan. Much to my disappointment and confusion she suddenly pulled away from me. Feeling a sting of hurt I looked up at her, slightly panting. What did I do wrong? Didn't she want me to kiss her?

"I'm so sorry, Jack." She said as she moved off of me and sat up on the bed next to me. A sickening feeling filled my stomach, worried that she regretted what we just did. Had I misread her? Maybe she hadn't meant that she loved me like that. What if she'd meant she loved me more like a brother or a friend? After all she'd only kissed me on the cheek. If that was the case then I'd really blew it.

"Jack?" I was pulled back from my thoughts, realizing that Kim was talking to me. "Are you ok?" Looking up at her, I suddenly felt very uncomfortably exposed; lying on the bed in front of her like that and I started to get up.

"Yeah…" I mumbled turning my eyes away, as I felt them welling up again. Just as I was about to stand I felt Kim's hand on my shoulder, keeping me from doing so.

"Jack, I'm sorry if I hurt you. I forgot for a moment…" I eyed her confused as she rambled on. Noticing that she kept throwing glances down at my torso I realized that she must've thought she'd hurt my bruised body when she landed on top of me. "I didn't mean to, I swear…"

Feeling relieved and slightly amused knowing that she hadn't rejected me, but was only afraid she'd hurt me, I turned and sat on my knees up in the bed, facing her.

"Kim…" I said to stop her from continuing. "I'm fine. You could never hurt me that way." She looked at me still not seeming convinced. I sighed. "The only way you could hurt me is if you leave me…and I hope that doesn't happen." I mumbled the last part. She gave me a smile.

"Don't worry; I have no intentions to leave you."

"Good"

"But are you sure you're alright?" I rolled my eyes at her. Why couldn't she just let it go? "You sounded as if it hurt…" I got up into a crawling position and slowly inched closer to her, causing her to lean back, supporting herself with her arms behind her.

"You know…" I started with a smug look on my face, getting even closer to her until I practically hovered above the beautiful girl, having one hand on either side of her on the bed, trapping her body between my arms. She leaned back even further, but I followed until she reached the limit of how far she could go before she'd fall. I stopped, looking her in the eyes, our chests only inches apart. "…not all moans are caused by pain…" I smirked, before removing my hands from the bed to around her waist. Not being able to support myself anymore I let myself fall down on her pretty heavy. Of course she hadn't the strength to hold us both up…

"Jack!" She exclaimed as she hit the mattress with me landing on top of her, almost knocking the air out of her. The surprised look on her face was priceless and I chuckled.

Her expression changed to a brighter one and she giggled, probably from hearing me laugh. It was a long time since I'd done that and it felt good. I really missed it and I could tell she'd missed it too.

"Now we're even…" I pointed out, still laughing. Looking down, I got caught in the bright eyes of hers and I went silent. Somehow the deep brown pools had some kind of power over me and it was impossible to look away or think of anything else. Kim reached up and caressed my cheek. Careful not to break the eye contact I turned my head slightly towards her hand, giving her palm a kiss. She smiled at me.

"You're beautiful…" I whispered at the same time it hit me, making her blush. It felt good to be able to say what was on my mind, not needing to hide my feelings for her anymore. Her hand moved to the back of my head, giving it a light push. The small gesture was more than enough for me to get what she meant. With my heart pounding I leaned down and kissed her soft lips. The kiss was short; still it transferred so much between us. It showed her how much I cared for her, how much I loved her and I could tell I meant just as much to her as she did to me. The feeling was amazing and it filled my whole body down to the last cell. It was so unlike all the pain and the fear I'd gone through, which only had made me want to disappear. My soul had shrunken a little with every bruise I'd received, desperately trying to hide itself from its awful surroundings. Now I could feel my soul and spirit starting to return. With every loving touch from her, they dared to expand just a little.

Sliding off of her, I lay down beside her. I still had my arm underneath her, holding her neat little waist. She turned to lie on her side, locking eyes with me. A strand of hair fell into her eye and I reached up, carefully removing it and tucking it in behind her ear.

Kim's hand gently traced over my bruised face, tickling my skin and making me shudder in delight. We just lay there in silence for a moment, looking at each other while fondly touching the each others faces. I was still trying to comprehend that all of this was actually happening and it wasn't just a dream.

Scooting closer to her I snuggled into her chest and closed my eyes, letting her warmth engulf me. Kim kept stroking my head, making me feel all safe and calm.

"It's good to have you back, Jack…" She whispered, before kissing my forehead.

"It's good to be back." I smiled and tightened my arms around her, pressing myself deeper into her cosy embrace. I knew that I was far from being back to normal and that I probably had a long way to go before I could put everything behind me. But I also knew that I would be able to make the journey with Kim by my side.

Finally I felt peace inside my heart and I knew that everything was going to be okay. I was home, not only with my family, but with Kim as well. If all this was what it took to get to where I was at that point; in the loving arms of my angel, then I wouldn't want it in any other way.

Listening to the sound of her heart beating, a smile curved my lips as I fell asleep with the satisfying feeling of knowing that I was right where I belonged…

* * *

**The End**

**That was it. Hope that the ending wasn't too corny...**

**I can't believe This story is over. I want to thank all of you who have been reading and reviewing, favorite and followed this story. I would never have finished this if it hadn't been for you guys.**

**Don't forget to watch out for the sequel called Memories and Lies. The first chapter will be up soon. **

**I'm also working on another Kickin' it story. It's very different from this one, although there's a bit of drama and action in it... this story sill also be up pretty soon.**

**And all who reviews gets a small sneak peek of the sequel:)**

**Bye and Thank you so much for reading my story:)**

**/MJ **


	32. Chapter 32

**AN/ Hi everyone. I will remove this author's note within a week. I just wanted to tell you all that the sequel called Memories and Lies is now up.**

**/MJ**


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